THECLAMMERAND 
•  THE  SUBMARINE  • 


WILLIAM  JOHN 
HOPKINS 


219D 


It 


THE    CLAMMER    AND   THE    SUBMARINE. 

THOSE   GILLESPIES.     Illustrated. 

BURBURY    STOKE. 

CONCERNING    SALLY. 

THE    MEDDLINGS    OF    EVE. 

OLD    HARBOR. 

THE   CLAMMER. 

JUVENILE 
THE  DOERS.     Illustrated. 
THE    INDIAN    BOOK.     Illustrated. 

HOUGHTON   MIFFLIN   COMPANY 
BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 


THE  GLAMMER  AND  THE 
SUBMARINE 


OF  CALIF.  LIBRARY,  LOS  AHGELES 


THE  CLAMMER  AND 
THE  SUBMARINE 


BY 


WILLIAM  JOHN  HOPKINS 


TOUT   BIEN 


BOSTON    AND    NEW   YORK 

HOUGHTON   MIFFLIN   COMPANY 

Cbc  ClilieraiDc  press  Cambridge 

1917 


COPYRIGHT,    IQI?!   BY   WILLIAM    JOHN  HOPKINS 
ALL    RIGHTS    KtSEKVEI) 

Published  September  IQI? 


THE  GLAMMER  AND  THE 
SUBMARINE 


2130278 


THE  CLAMMER  AND 
THE  SUBMARINE 


DOWN  under  my  great  pine  is  a 
pleasant  place  —  even  in  April, 
if  it  is  but  warm  enough,  and  if  the 
sun  is  shining,  and  if  there  is  no  great 
wind,  and  if  what  wind  there  is  comes 
from  the  southwest.  It  is  not  so  pleas 
ant  —  I  know  many  pleasanter  —  if 
the  wind  is  from  the  northwest,  howl 
ing  and  shrieking  as  it  does  often 
in  the  winter,  picking  up  the  fine 
snow  and  whirling  it  back,  leaving 
the  top  of  my  bluff  as  clean  as  though 
it  had  been  swept.  Such  a  wind  roars 
through  the  ancient  branches  of  the 
pine,  and  twists  them,  and  tears  at 


4  THE   CLAMMER 

them  as  if  it  would  tear  them  off.  My 
pine  stands  sentinel-like  on  the  top  of 
the  bluff,  some  distance  from  the 
edge,  and  its  branches  have  withstood 
the  winds  of  many  winters.  Its  age 
must  be  measured  in  centuries,  for  it 
is  a  noble  great  tree;  and  in  times  long 
past  it  must  have  had  fellows  stand 
ing  close.  It  is  a  forest  tree,  and  its 
great  trunk  rises  twenty  feet  without 
a  branch.  But  its  fellows  are  gone, 
leaving  no  memory,  and  the  ancient 
pine  now  stands  alone. 

From  the  bench  built  against  the 
trunk  one  can  see  many  things:  the 
harbor,  and  the  opposite  shore,  and 
rolling  country  beyond,  and  distant 
hills,  and  one  hill  in  particular  with 
a  tree  upon  it  like  a  cross,  which 
stands  out,  at  certain  seasons,  right 
against  the  disc  of  the  setting  sun. 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE          5 

One  can  see,  too,  the  waters  of  the 
bay  beyond  the  harbor,  and  certain 
clam  beds  just  at  the  point,  and  a 
certain  water  front;  and  other  things 
in  their  season.  Old  Goodwin's  palace 
on  the  hill  is  not  visible,  except  for  a 
glimpse  of  red  roofs  above  the  tops  of 
the  trees.  There  is  one  other  thing 
which  I  almost  forgot  to  mention, 
and  that  is  a  hole  scooped  in  the 
ground  just  without  the  shadow  of 
the  pine,  and  lined  with  great  stones. 
That  stone-lined  hole  has  its  uses,  but 
the  time  for  them  is  not  yet. 

I  was  sitting  on  the  seat  under  my 
old  pine,  gazing  out  but  seeing  noth 
ing  of  what  lay  before  my  eyes.  And 
that  was  strange,  too,  for  the  harbor 
before  me  was  smiling  under  a  warm 
spring  sun,  and  the  hills  beyond  were 
bathed  in  the  blue  mist  of  summer. 


6  THE   CLAMMER 

Indeed,  it  seemed  like  summer. 
There  will  be  cold  weather  in  plenty, 
with  skies  gray  and  wet.  There  is 
always  more  than  enough  of  such 
weather  in  the  first  half  of  May,  but 
that  day  seemed  like  summer.  I  had 
had  hard  work  to  realize  that  it  was 
April  until  I  looked  about  me  and 
saw  the  grass  just  greening  in  the 
moist  and  sheltered  spots,  and  the 
trees  spreading  their  bare  arms 
abroad.  The  buds  were  just  swel 
ling,  some  of  them  showing  a  faint 
pale  green  or  pink  at  their  tips.  And 
my  garden  was  nothing  but  freshly 
turned  brown  earth,  not  a  spear  of 
green. 

I  have  put  in  my  early  peas,  but 
not  very  long  ago.  They  should  be 
poking  through,  any  morning  now. 
And  I  planted  some  corn  yesterday. 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE         7 

It  may  get  nipped  by  frost,  but  I  hope 
not.  What  would  the  President 
think,  when  he  found  that  I  had  let 
my  corn  get  nipped  by  frost?  I  mean- 
to  do  my  share  —  in  the  garden. 
That  is  not  the  only  reason  why  I 
hope  my  corn  will  not  get  nipped.  It 
is  not  likely,  for  we  do  not  often  have 
frost  here  so  late.  It  is  much  more 
likely  that  it  will  be  stunted  by  the 
cold  in  May.  But  what  if  it  does  not 
succeed?  It  will  only  mean  my  plant 
ing  those  two  rows  over  again,  and  if 
it  escapes  I  shall  be  just  that  much 
ahead  of  the  others  who  did  not  take 
the  chance.  I  no  longer  plant  my 
corn  in  hills.  Hills  have  gone  out. 
Corn  is  planted  in  drills  now. 

I  even  put  in  two  rows  of  melons 
yesterday,  but  I  am  not  telling  my 
neighbors  about  it.  They  would  be 


8  THE   CLAMMER 

amused  at  my  planting  melons  in 
April.  Judson  would  not  have  been 
amused.  Judson  was  a  fine  old  man 
with  an  open  mind,  and  he  would 
have  been  interested  to  see  how  the 
experiment  with  melons  succeeded. 
I  should  have  told  Judson  all  about  it, 
-he  might  have  helped  me  plant,  — 
but  Judson  is  dead,  and  so  is  Mrs. 
Judson.  It  is  a  loss  for  Eve  and  me, 
for  a  younger  man  lives  in  Judson's 
house  now,  a  younger  man  who  is  not 
so  fine;  and  he  has  a  wife  and  a  small 
girl  —  who  pelts  me  with  unripe  pears 
when  I  venture  near  the  wall  —  and 
he  has  a  talking  machine  which  sits 
in  the  open  window  and  recites  hu 
morous  bits  in  a  raucous  voice  to  the 
wide  world.  The  girl  —  she  is  not  so 
very  small,  probably  ten  or  eleven  — 
would  have  difficulty  in  pelting  me 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE          9 

with  pears  now,  but  she  might  use 
pebbles  instead.  She  is  a  pretty  fair 
shot;  and  the  talking  machine  is  not 
dependent  upon  season.  They  had 
the  window  open  at  that  moment, 
and  I  found  myself  listening  for  the 
raucous  voice,  while  I  thought  of  seed 
potatoes  —  at  four  dollars  a  bushel, 
and  scarce  at  that. 

So  the  sun  shone  in  under  the 
branches  of  the  pine,  and  I  basked  in 
its  warmth,  and  I  gazed  out  and  saw 
nothing  of  what  lay  before  my  eyes, 
and  I  thought  my  thoughts.  They 
came  in  no  particular  order,  but  as 
thoughts  do  come,  at  random:  the 
season,  and  peas  and  corn  and  mel 
ons  and  Judson  and  his  successor 
and  the  girl  and  the  talking  machine 
and  pears  and  potatoes.  I  suppose  I 
should  not  speak  of  such  rumblings  of 


xo  THE  CLAMMER 

gray  matter  as  thoughts,  for  thoughts, 
we  are  told,  should  come  in  order,  and 
should  be  always  under  the  control 
of  the  thinker.  Mine  are  not  always 
under  my  control,  and  they  seldom 
come  in  order.  I  might  as  well  say 
that  they  are  never  under  my  control, 
but  are  controlled  by  interest  of  one 
sort  or  another.  I  make  no  claim 
to  efficiency.  Efficiency  is  a  quality 
of  a  machine,  as  I  take  it.  When 
our  brains  become  machines,  why, 
Heaven  help  us!  But  whatever  my 
thoughts  were,  whether  of  my  plant 
ing  or  my  neighbor's  talking  machine, 
they  revolved  around  one  idea,  and 
always  came  back  to  the  point  they 
started  from,  which  sufficiently  ac 
counts  for  the  fact  that  I  was  looking 
at  the  harbor  and  not  seeing  it. 
War.  That  was  the  central  idea. 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE        n 

We  are  at  war.  I  looked  out  upon  the 
peaceful,  smiling  water  and  the  peace 
ful,  smiling  country  beyond,  and  the 
tree  like  a  cross  upon  its  distant  hill, 
and  I  laughed.  I  confess  ifc  What 
had  war  to  do  with  that,  or  with  me, 
or  with  mine?  I  could  not  realize  it. 
War  means  nothing  to  me.  It  means 
nothing  to  many  people  over  here,  I 
believe,  but  flags  flying,  and  parades, 
and  brass  bands,  and  shouting.  If  we 
were  in  France  now  —  but  I  am 
thankful  that  we  are  not  in  France, 
and  that  there  are  two  thousand  and 
odd  miles  of  water  between. 

As  for  submarines  —  submarines 
in  that  harbor,  where  they  could  not 
turn  around  without  getting  stuck  in 
the  mud!  Or  in  the  bay,  where  there 
is  none  too  much  water  either,  and 
ledges  and  rocks  scattered  around  im- 


12  THE   CLAMMER 

partially  and  conveniently  here  and 
there!  I  know  them  well:  one  ledge 
in  particular  which  has  but  one  foot 
of  water  on  it  at  low  tide.  And  with 
a  sea  running  —  well,  I  could  lead  a 
submarine  a  pretty  chase.  I  would  if 
the  submarine  was  bound  for  this 
harbor.  It  might  choose  to  get  stuck 
in  the  mud  and  sand  of  my  clam  beds, 
which  would  make  them  unproduc 
tive  for  years.  Even  as  a  civilian  I 
will  defend  my  own. 

Well,  we  shall  see;  but  I  cannot  be 
lieve  that  the  matter  concerns  us  very 
nearly.  And  I  sighed  softly,  and 
smiled,  and  again  I  looked  at  the  har 
bor,  and  I  saw  it;  saw  it  with  the 
warm  spring  sun  on  its  quiet  water, 
and  the  wooded  hills  beyond  bathed 
in  a  blue  haze.  And  I  heard  a  soft 
footstep  behind  me,  and  there  came 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE        13 

from  above  my  head  a  low  ripple  of 
laughter,  and  my  head  was  held  be 
tween  two  soft  hands  and  a  kiss  was 
dropped  on  the  top  of  it.  And  Eve 
slipped  down  on  the  bench  beside  me. 
"Why  do  you  sigh?"  she  asked. 
"What  were  you  thinking  of,  Adam?" 
>  "War,"  I  said,  and  she  sobered 
quickly.  Eve  seems  to  have  pacifist 
leanings.  I  smiled  at  her  to  comfort 
her.  "I  was  thinking  that  if  a  sub 
marine  should  come  into  this  harbor, 
it  might  happen  to  get  stuck  in  my 
clam  beds,  and  it  would  stir  them  all 
up,  and  would  be  bad  for  the  clams. 
I  am  afraid  I  should  have  to  take  a 
hand  then.  Do  you  suppose  your 
father  would  object  to  my  mounting 
a  gun  on  the  point?  —  say,  just  under 
that  tree  where  he  keeps  his  rubber 
boots?" 


14  THE   CLAMMER 

She  laughed,  which  was  what  I 
wanted.  Eve  is  lovely  when  she 
laughs  —  she  is  lovely  always,  as 
lovely  as  she  was  when  I  first  saw  her. 
And  the  warm  spring  sun,  shining  in 
under  the  branches  of  the  pine,  shone 
upon  her  hair,  and  it  was  red  and  gold ; 
as  red  and  as  shining  gold  as  it  ever 
was  —  or  so  it  seemed  to  me. 

"My  father  would  probably  help 
you  mount  the  gun,"  she  said.  "  Shall 
I  ask  him?" 

"I  will  ask  him.  But  your  hair, 
Eve,—" 

"Oh,  my  hair,  stupid,  is  turning 
dark.  Everybody  sees  it  but  you.  But 
I  don't  care,  and  I  love  you  for  it. 
And  you  must  look  out  now,  for  I  'm 
going  to  kiss  you."  She  seized  me 
about  the  neck  as  she  spoke,  and  she 
did  as  she  had  said  she  would. 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE        15 

"There!"  she  said,  laughing.  "Did 
any  body  see?  Look  all  about,  Adam. 
The  mischief's  done.  As  if  a  woman 
could  n't  kiss  her  husband  when  she 
wanted  to!  Now,  I'm  going  to  rum 
ple  your  hair." 

She  proceeded  to  the  business  in 
hand  thoroughly. 

"Eve,"  I  cried  between  rumplings, 
"there  are  laws  in  this  State  —  I 
don't  believe  they  have  been  repealed 
—  which  forbid  a  woman's  kissing  her 
husband  whenever  she  wants  to.  It 
can't  be  done.  And  — " 

"It  can't  be  done?  Oh,  yes,  it 
can."  She  did  it.  "Now,  can  it? 
Say  —  quickly." 

"Yes,  yes,  it  can,  Eve.  I  acknowl 
edge  it.  But  the  submarine.  You  in 
terrupted  me.  I  had  not  finished." 

"Well,"  she  asked,  subsiding  upon 


i6  THE   CLAMMER 

the  bench  and  smiling  up  into  my 
face,  "what  about  your  submarine? 
I  know  of  many  things  which  I  think 
more  important." 

"  I've  no  doubt  that  there  are  laws 
against  rumpling  hair.  There  ought 
to  be.  It's  important  enough.  But 
the  submarine,"  I  added  hastily,  for 
I  saw  indications  of  further  rumpling; 
"  I  was  only  about  to  remark  that  if  I 
were  out  in  the  bay  - 

"  In  a  boat?"  Eve  asked,  still  lean 
ing  forward  and  looking  up  into  my 
face  with  the  smile  lurking  about  her 
lovely  eyes. 

11  In  a  boat.  If  I  were  out  in  the 
bay,  and  a  submarine  suddenly  popped 
up  beside  me,  I  should  feel  much 
more  inclined  to  offer  the  crew  my 
luncheon  than  to  shoot  them." 

"They  would  all  line  up  on  the 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE         17 

deck,  I  suppose,  and  you  would  have 
your  choice." 

I  laughed.  "I  should  have  no 
gun.  Besides,  I  am  a  civilian.  That  is 
against  me.  Civilians  seem  to  have 
no  chance  worth  mentioning." 

Eve  was  looking  at  me  thought 
fully,  and  there  was  a  look  deep  in 
her  eyes  that  I  could  not  fathom. 

' '  You  are  a  civilian , ' '  she  said  softly, 
"and  civilians  have  no  —  and  what 
then,  Adam?  Did  you  think  of — " 

"They  don't  want  doddering  old 
men  of  forty-three,  and  there  is  no 
need.  But  if  my  clam  beds  were  in 
danger  I  should  not  feel  so  amiable. 
I  might  even  strain  a  point  and  try 
to  get  a  standing  that  would  enable 
me  to  shoot  alien  trespassers  prop 
erly.  But  why,  Eve?  Did  you  want 
me  to—" 


i8  THE   CLAMMER 

"  No,"  she  answered  quickly.  "  Oh, 
no.  I  was  only  thinking." 

"  I  have  been  thinking.  If  we  had 
to  have  a  war  I  am  glad  that  it  has 
come  now.  Pukkie  cannot  possibly 
go,  and  he  might  want  to.  How 
would  you  like  that?" 

Pukkie  is  our  son,  and  he  is  ten 
years  old.  I  knew  how  it  would  feel 
to  have  him  go.  I  took  him  off  to 
school  last  f all .  1 1  is  a  beautiful  school , 
with  fine  men  for  masters,  and  digni 
fied  buildings  and  extensive  grounds, 
nearly  three  hundred  acres,  with 
woods  and  a  lake.  I  wish  I  could 
have  gone  to  such  a  school.  It  would 
have  done  me  good.  I  mooned  about 
with  Pukkie,  seeing  his  room  and 
the  other  dormitories,  and  the  din 
ing  hall  and  the  gymnasium  and  the 
classrooms,  and  the  football  field,  and 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE        ig 

the  woods  and  the  lake,  and  I  tried  to 
be  cheerful,  but  I  did  not  make  a  suc 
cess  of  it.  I  could  not  say  much.  Puk- 
kie  was  silent  too. 

And  all  too  soon  it  was  time  for 
me  to  start  on  my  three-mile  ride  for 
the  station,  and  I  gave  him  a  long 
hug  and  a  short  kiss  behind  a  clump 
of  bushes;  the  last  kiss,  I  suppose, 
that  I  shall  ever  give  my  little  son. 
I  have  not  forgotten  how  a  boy  of 
ten  feels  about  that.  And  I  jumped 
quickly  into  the  car,  and  we  started. 
I  looked  back  and  waved  to  him  as 
long  as  I  could  see,  and  he  waved  to 
me  once  or  twice.  But  he  looked  very 
small,  standing  there  in  the  middle  of 
three  hundred  acres,  gazing  after  the 
car  and  waving  his  cap,  and  I  almost 
broke  down  then.  It  seemed  almost 
as  if  I  were  deserting  my  small  son 


20  THE   CLAMMER 

among  strangers  —  enemies,  per 
haps,  for  he  did  not  know  a  soul ;  my 
little  son  who  had  never  before  been 
away  from  home  a  single  night  with 
out  Eve  or  me.  For  Eve  had  taught 
him  up  to  that  time,  and  I  had  done 
what  I  could,  —  with  his  Latin  and 
the  groundings  of  his  Greek,  the  very 
beginnings  of  it,  —  what  one  of  my 
students  once  called  the  radishes.  I 
had  not  the  heart  to  inflict  science 
upon  him.  I  hate  it.  I  ought  not  to, 
for  I  was  bred  in  it,  and  taught  it  for 
some  years,  which  are  well  behind  me. 
But  that  was  small  comfort  to  me 
then,  and  I  had  hard  work  to  keep 
myself  in  control  all  the  way  home. 
But  Pukkie  did  not  break  down.  He 
may  have  come  near  it.  I  do  not 
know.  He  has  never  said  anything 
about  it.  I  have  —  to  Eve.  She  un- 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE        21 

derstood.  She  always  understands. 
That  is  the  comfort  of  it. 

But  Eve  had  made  no  reply.  She 
was  still  regarding  me  with  that  look 
that  I  could  not  fathom,  although  I 
looked  deep  into  her  eyes. 

"  I  think  I  could  manage  it,"  I  said, 
feeling  strangely  uneasy. 

"  Manage  what?  "  she  asked.  "  Puk- 
kie's  going?" 

"Heaven  forbid!  It  was  that  civil 
ian  business  that  I  meant.  I  think  I 
could  manage  to  change  my  condi 
tion." 

"  No,  no.  I  want  you  here,  Adam. 
There  is  no  need  to  change,  is  there?  " 
I  shook  my  head,  and  Eve  reached 
out  and  took  my  hand.  "You  need 
not  change  —  anything." 

It  was  as  if  with  her  love  for  me,  she 
had  great  sorrow,  and  great  pity; 


22  THE  CLAMMER 

though  why  I  was  to  be  pitied  was  be 
yond  my  understanding.  I  do  not 
regard  myself  as  a  proper  subject  for 
pity.  But  there  are  many  things  be 
yond  my  understanding.  Eve  will 
enlighten  me  in  her  own  good  time. 
And  as  we  sat,  there  was  another  step 
on  the  grass  behind  us,  not  soft,  but 
hasty.  And  Eve  unclasped  her  fin 
gers  from  mine,  and  turned.  It  was 
Ann,  the  nurse. 

"What  is  it,  Ann?"  Eve  said. 
' '  Where 's  Tidda ?  Gone  again  ? ' ' 

Then  Ann  explained  that  she  had 
but  turned  her  back  for  a  minute, 
had  gone  into  the  house  for  her  knit 
ting,  and  come  right  back  —  had  run 
every  step  of  the  way  going  and  com 
ing  —  and  Tidda  had  disappeared. 
Tidda  is  our  daughter,  aged  eight. 
Her  name  is  not  Tidda,  but  Eve,  as  it 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE        23 

should  be.  She  has  a  propensity  for 
running  away,  although  I  do  not 
think  that  her  excursions  are  planned. 
She  is  a  true  apostle  of  freedom,  and 
when  she  observes  that  nobody  is 
about,  she  regards  it  as  an  opportun 
ity  heaven-born,  and  she  makes  the 
most  of  it.  I  can  hardly  blame  her. 
A  girl  of  eight,  and  tied  to  the  worthy 
Ann's  apron  strings!  How  should  I 
have  liked  it,  at  the  age  of  eight?  She 
would  sympathize  with  our  aims  in 
this  war  we  have  undertaken.  But 
Eve  had  risen,  and  was  about  to  go. 

"  I  suppose  I  had  better  stop  at 
Cecily's,"  she  said,  "and  at  every 
house  on  the  road  to  father's.  She 
may  turn  up  there.  Ann  can  stay 
here.  I  wish,"  she  added,  laughing, 
"that  I  knew  some  way  — " 

"I '11  go  with  you." 


24  THE    CLAMMER 

"  I  'd  love  to  have  you,  Adam,  but 
you'd  better  go  around  by  the  shore. 
Meet  me  at  father's.  Good-bye." 

And  she  was  gone,  swiftly.  She  al 
ways  has  some  ill-concealed  anxiety 
over  these  disappearances  of  Tidda's, 
and  so,  for  that  matter,  have  I.  I 
got  up  slowly  and  started  toward  the 
head  of  that  steep  path  to  the  shore; 
but  stopped  halfway,  and  turned  and 
went  to  my  shed,  and  got  my  hoe  and 
my  rubber  boots.  It  was  yet  early  in 
the  season  for  clamming,  but  my  way 
led  past  the  clam  beds,  and  the  tide 
was  almost  down,  and  I  might  at  least 
see  how  they  were  getting  on.  So,  my 
hoe  and  my  boots  in  my  hand,  I  went 
down  the  steep  path,  and  strode  along 
the  shore.  And,  as  I  came  nearer  that 
place  which  is  ever  near  my  heart  — 
where  the  sod  breaks  off  to  the  sand 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE        25 

just  above  my  clam  beds  —  I  thought 
I  got  a  glimpse  of  drapery  behind  a 
tree-trunk.  There  are  trees  there, 
pretty  near  the  edge  of  the  three-foot 
bluff,  the  beginning  of  a  grove  which 
is  Old  Goodwin's;  and  a  path  runs 
back  to  his  house.  I  saw  that  the 
gleam  of  white  I  had  seen  was  from 
a  white  dress,  a  small  white  dress,  a 
dress  that  somehow  seemed  familiar; 
and  I  saw  a  small  leg  in  the  air,  its 
stocking  in  the  process  of  removal. 
I  stepped  forward  without  caution, 
and  I  grinned  down  at  my  small 
daughter.  It  is  impossible  to  be  cross 
with  her,  she  is  always  so  perfectly 
confident  of  having  done  nothing 
which  she  should  not  have  done. 

So  I  grinned  down  at  her,  and  she 
looked  up  and  grinned  back  at  me. 

"  Going  in  wading,"  she  announced 


26  THE   CLAMMER 

cheerfully,  continuing  to  push  the 
stocking,  which  did  not  seem  to  want 
to  come  off. 

"  Going  wading,  are  you?  Well, 
don't  be  in  a  hurry,  Tidda.  Let 'stalk 
it  over." 

She  did  not  relax  her  efforts,  but 
she  shook  her  head. 

"Have  n't  got  time  to  talk  now," 
she  said.  "Daddy,  you  help  me  get 
my  stockings  off.  They  won't  un- 
come.  They're  an  awful  bother." 

"Wait  a  minute."  I  stepped  back 
and  looked  up  at  my  bluff.  There  was 
Ann  watching  me,  and  evidently  anx 
ious.  I  signalled  to  her  that  Tidda 
was  found  —  we  have  a  code  for  the 
purpose,  and  Ann  is  letter-perfect  in 
it  —  and  she  signalled  that  she  was 
much  relieved  and  would  find  Eve 
and  tell  her.  Then  she  disappeared. 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE         27 

I  sat  down  beside  my  daughter. 
"  Now,  Tidda,"  I  said,  "  there  are  sev 
eral  good  reasons  why  you  should  not 
go  wading.  The  water  is  very  cold 
still,  and—" 

"Pull  this  one,  daddy,"  she  said, 
ignoring  my  remarks,  and  sticking 
out  toward  me  the  leg  with  its  stock 
ing  half  off.  "  If  you  take  hold  of  the 
toe  and  the  heel  and  pull,  it'll  un- 
come.  I  can't  do  it,  because  I  can't 
get  hold  from  that  end." 

I  laughed. 

"I  was  saying  that  the  water  is 
very  cold,  and  that  mother  would  n't 
want  you  to  go  wading." 

She  pointed  accusingly  at  my  rub 
ber  boots.  "You're  going." 

"Not  necessarily.  I  only  brought 
them  down  in  case  I  should  want 
to." 


28  THE   CLAMMER 

"Well,  I  do  want  to." 

"  If  you  had  rubber  boots  and 
warm  stockings  under  them  — " 

"Get  me  some  rubber  boots." 

I  sighed  and  laughed.  "  I  will,"  I 
said,  "but  I  can't  get  them  this  min 
ute.  Will  nothing  less  satisfy  you? 
You  sit  here,  and  I  '11  go  and  see  how 
the  clams  are  getting  on.  I  will  bring 
you  one." 

She  was  on  the  verge  of  tears.  "  I 
was  going  to  see  how  the  clams  were 
myself.  Dig  'em  with  a  stick.  I  can 
find  'em.  I've  found  lots." 

"What  do  you  do  with  them  when 
you've  found  them?" 

"We  play  with  'em,  and  we  had  a 
clambake  once." 

"Were  the  clams  good?" 

"Pretty  good.  There  were  six  of 
'em,  one  apiece  and  two  for  Ann.  But 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE        29 

she  did  n't  eat  hers.  She  said  they 
were  n't  done,  and  that  she  was  n't 
a  fish  to  eat  raw  clams.  Oh,  look, 
daddy!" 

Old  Goodwin's  ocean  steamer  was 
lying  at  her  anchor,  but  I  could  see 
nothing  unusual  about  her. 

"No,"  said  Tidda,  "not  grandpa's, 
but  out  that  way.  Is  it  coming  in 
here?  It  comes  fast,  does  n't  it?" 

Set  right  by  Tidda's  pointing  fin 
ger,  I  saw  the  steamer,  but  I  could 
not  make  out  what  she  was,  whether 
yacht  or  war  vessel.  She  had  the  lines 
of  a  torpedo  boat,  and  was  painted 
gray,  with  lines  of  bull's-eyes  along 
her  sides,  and  no  deck  to  speak  of, 
where  one  could  sit  in  comfort;  but 
plainly  she  was  no  torpedo  boat,  and 
as  plainly  she  was  not  a  steam  yacht 
of  the  common  type.  She  was  nearly 


30  THE   CLAMMER 

two  hundred  feet  long,  I  judged,  and 
of  great  speed. 

"  It  is  coming  here,"  cried  Tidda  in 
some  excitement.  "See!  It's  going 
close  to  grandpa's." 

As  she  spoke  the  vessel  rounded  to 
an  anchorage  at  a  safe  distance  from 
Old  Goodwin's.  She  came  at  very 
nearly  full  speed,  then  there  was  a 
tremendous  commotion  under  her 
stern  which  seemed  to  stop  her  short, 
her  chain  rattled  out,  and  she  lay 
quiet,  the  only  evidence  of  her  effort 
being  the  white  water,  which  spread 
on  either  side  of  her  and  for  a  long 
distance  ahead.  A  motor  launch  was 
lowered  before  her  anchor  touched 
bottom,  several  men  got  in,  and  it 
made  for  Old  Goodwin's  landing. 

We  had  not  heard  the  step  behind 
us. 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE        31 

"So  here's  my  little  girl, "said  Eve. 
"Oh!  What  boat  is  that,  Adam?" 

"That  is  a  little  boat  of  Tidda's. 
She  found  it.  But  I  'm  glad  you  have 
come,  Eve." 

Eve  laughed  and  sat  beside  me,  and 
she  began  to  pull  Tidda's  stockings 
into  place.  But  she  said  nothing 
about  it,  and  Tidda  did  not  notice 
it.  And  when  she  had  the  stockings 
smooth  on  the  little  legs  she  stood  her 
daughter  on  her  feet  and  straightened 
her  dress  with  a  touch.  Then  she  got 
up. 

" Come,  Adam,"  she  said,  "let's  go 
up  to  father's.  He  wants  to  see  you. 
He  told  me  as  I  came  down." 

And  I  got  up  without  a  word,  and 
I  took  one  of  my  daughter's  hands  in 
mine,  and  Eve  took  the  other,  and 
Tidda  danced  along  between  us  on 


32  THE   CLAMMER 

the  path  all  the  way  up  through  the 
grove  to  the  great  house.  And  I 
looked  at  Eve,  and  I  smiled  a  smile  of 
content,  and  she  smiled  back  at  me. 
Then  her  smile  changed  to  one  of 
amusement  as  she  saw  what  was  in 
my  other  hand,  and  I  looked,  and  I 
was  carrying  my  old  battered  boots 
and  my  clam  hoe.  But  Old  Goodwin 
would  not  mind. 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE        33 


II 

OLD  GOODWIN  saw  us  coming 
from  afar,  Eve  and  me  and  our 
daughter,  and  he  ambled  down  to 
meet  us.  He  gave  me  his  old  slow 
smile  of  peace. 

"You  see,"  I  said,  holding  up  my 
boots  and  my  clam  hoe,  "I'm  get 
ting  flustered.  I  did  n't  know  I  had 
them.  I  should  have  left  them  at  the 
shore." 

"I  see,"  he  said.  "Let  me  take 
them,  Adam.  You  will  need  these. 
But  perhaps  you  had  better  take 
them  with  you.  You  might  forget 
again." 

"  I'll  hang  them  on  my  watch  chain. 
But  Tidda  ran  away  again." 

"  I  know,"  he  said.  Tidda  had  run 


34  THE    CLAMMER 

to  him,  and  was  clinging  to  his  hand. 
He  stooped  and  swung  her  up  to  his 
shoulder.  She  has  got  to  be  a  heavy 
load  for  a  man's  shoulder,  and  he  an 
old  man.  But  Old  Goodwin  did  not 
look  like  an  old  man.  "  I  wish  Pukkie 
were  here,"  he  said,  "to  balance." 

"We  wish  he  were  —  to  balance. 
It  is  less  than  two  months  now,  and 
he' will  be."  ; 

"Put  her  down, father,"  said  Eve. 
"She  is  heavy." 

"I  like  her  up  here,  "he  said,  "where 
she  is  near.  I  '11  put  her  down  if  she 
gets  too  heavy." 

And  he  led  the  way  to  the  house, 
and  up  the  steps,  and  through  va 
rious  sections  of  piazza,  each  with  its 
tables  and  chairs  and  cushions,  to 
that  ample  section  on  the  water  side, 
with  its  telescope  and  its  view  of  the 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE        35 

bay.  There,  before  us,  were  the  ocean 
steamer  of  Old  Goodwin  and  the  new 
arrival,  as  yet  unknown  to  me;  and 
beside  us  was  Mrs.  Goodwin,  and  as  I 
turned  to  greet  her  I  saw  a  girl  sitting 
beside  her,  but  a  little  withdrawn  and 
in  the  deeper  shadows.  In  the  glance  I 
gave,  I  saw  only  that  she  was  of  pleas 
ing  countenance,  and  quiet  eye  that 
seemed  to  take  in  all  that  passed,  and 
mouth  with  little  curves  of  humor 
about  the  corners,  and  she  had  hair 
of  the  colors  of  Eve's  great  beaver 
muff.  There  are  beautiful  colors  in 
that  beaver  muff.  Introductions  fol 
lowed.  I  missed  her  name,  as  I  al 
ways  miss  new  names ;  and  before  the 
introductions  were  well  over,  there 
trooped  in  Jimmy  Wales,  and  Bob 
by  Leverett,  and  a  young  fellow  whom 
I  did  not  know,  all  in  uniform  of  one 


36  THE   CLAMMER 

sort  or  another,  and  Tom  Ellis,  whom 
I  did  know.  He  lives  almost  across 
the  road  from  me. 

More  introductions  followed;  but 
when  it  came  the  turn  of  the  young 
fellow  whom  I  did  not  know,  the  girl 
laughed,  and  held  out  her  hand. 

"Hello,  Jack,"  she  said  with  evi 
dent  satisfaction.  "  I  had  no  idea  that 
I  should  see  you  here." 

"Nor  I  you,"  he  replied.  "But 
are  n't  you  glad?  I  am." 

And  she  laughed  again,  and  bade 
him  wait  and  see. 

The  young  fellow's  name  was  Jack 
Ogilvie.  And  when  I  had  found  that 
out  we  drifted  into  chairs,  and  be 
gan  to  ask  questions.  I  was  next  to 
Bobby,  who  is  a  cousin  of  Eve's. 

"What  boat  is  that,  Bobby?" 

"Rattlesnake,"  said  Bobby.   "She 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE        37 

was  the  Ebenezer,  but  they  changed 
it.  Too  bad,  when  we  had  a  name 
that  just  fitted.  We're  in  the  navy 
now,  you  know.  We'reallU.S.N.R.F., 
Class  four.  The  Ebenezer  belonged 
to  Jimmy  and  me,  but  the  Rattle 
snake  belongs  to  the  U.S.  We  offered 
it  to  them,  and  they  took  it  so  quick 
it  almost  took  our  breath  away.  She 
makes  thirty  miles  an  hour  easy,  and  a 
little  better  if  we  drive  her.  You  know 
that  I  'm  a  partner  of  Jimmy's  now." 

I  nodded.  Seven  years  ago  he  was 
office  boy,  just  out  of  college. 

"Any  clams  on  this  piazza,  Adam?" 
Bobby  asked.  "I  see—" 

"Yes,"  I  interrupted,  "anybody 
might.  These  boots  are  not  invisible. 
I  wish  they  were.  Neither  is  the  clam 
hoe.  Circumstances  beyond  my  con 
trol,  Bobby,  —  But  what  is  Jimmy?  " 


38  THE   CLAMMER 

"Jimmy?  Oh,  Jimmy's  lieutenant 
commander." 

"And  you  are  an  admiral?" 

"Well,  no.  They  offered  me  that 
rank,  of  course,  but  I  thought  I'd 
rather  be  under  Jimmy.  I'm  a  lieu 
tenant.  Ogilvie'll  be  an  ensign  as 
soon  as  he's  of  age.  They  don't  of 
ten  give  commissions  to  fellows  un 
til  they  are  twenty-one.  He's  not 
through  college  yet." 

"  Chasing  submarines,  Bobby?  How 
many  periscopes  have  you  shot  off?" 

Bobby  laughed.  "That  information 
I  am  unable  to  impart,  Adam.  Un 
doubtedly  it  would  give  comfort  to 
the  enemy.  But  we  shall  be  chasing 
submarines  pretty  soon.  That  is  to 
be  our  job,  so  far  as  we  know  now.  We 
have  a  number  of  chasers  under  our 
command.  Personally,  I  'd  like  to  be 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE         39 

in  patrol  work  out  in  the  steamer 
lanes.  Our  boat  is  too  good  for  this 
in-shore  work.  You  know  the  Smith 
saw  a  submarine  a  week  or  two  ago." 

I  shook  my  head.  I  have  no  faith 
in  that  report.  Everybody  has  been 
seeing  submarines  from  Eastport  to 
the  Gulf. 

"We  picked  up  Ogilvie  at  New 
port,"  Bobby  continued.  "I  knew 
him,  and  he'd  been  doing  police  duty 
there,  and  going  through  training  that 
he  knew  as  well  as  his  alphabet ;  noth 
ing  that  was  any  mortal  use.  So  I 
asked  for  him,  and  he  was  trans 
ferred.  They  don't  seem  to  get  on 
very  fast  at  Newport  with  our  fel 
lows.  I  don't  know  why.  They  have 
more  boats  than  they  are  using,  but 
most  of  them  are  small  and  slow,  and 
they  have  been  busy  with  men  for  the 


40  THE   CLAMMER 

regular  navy.  I  suppose  they'll  get 
around  to  the  rest  of  them  in  time. 
We  are  going  to  have  good  big  chasers 
some  time  soon." 

"Ah,  Bobby,  but  when?  I  could 
give  you  some  statistics  of  our  navy, 
but  I  won't,  for  I  don't  believe  you'd 
stay.  I  have  been  reading  an  article 
packed  full  of  valuable  information 
which  ought  to  be  of  some  comfort  to 
the  enemy.  It  seems  that  nearly  all 
of  our  vessels  are  old  or  slow  or  both 
-  or  they  are  in  reserve  in  one  form 
or  another,  without  full  crews;  and 
we  have  no  submarine  chasers  —  lit 
erally  none  that  would  be  of  any  use 
in  chasing.  We  shall  not  get  any  be 
fore  next  January,  and  then  only  a 
beggarly  hundred  or  so.  It  looks 
pretty  bad,  Bobby.  We  might  as  well 
surrender  at  once." 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE         41 

Bobby  smiled.  "  I  know  where  you 
got  that  dope.  I  saw  it  too,  and  I 
wonder  what  good  the  chap  thinks 
he  is  doing  by  making  out  that  we 
have  gone  to  the  dogs.  He 's  a  knock 
er.  Pay  no  attention  to  him,  Adam. 
1  have  faith  that  all  our  navy  men 
are  n't  fools.  There  may  even  be  one 
or  two  who  know  almost  as  much  as 
he  does.  You  ought  to  conduct  a  few 
patriotic  meet  ings.  And  be  a  speaker, 
Adam.  You  could  make  glorious 
speeches.  I  'd  come." 

"Flags  flying, —  to  the  great  ad 
vantage  of  the  Bunting  Trust, —  and 
'The  Star  Spangled  Banner*  sung 
several  times,  and  you'd  have  to 
stand  with  your  hat  off,  and  take  cold 
in  early  May,  and  hear  every  man 
in  the  county  who  has  ever  held 
office  give  the  history  of  the  country, 


42  THE   CLAMMER 

and  Washington's  Farewell  Address, 
and  Lincoln's  Gettsyburg  Speech  de 
livered  by  a  talented  young  lady  from 
our  high  school, —  if  we  had  one, — 
and  brass  bands,  and  parades,  and 
me  for  drum-major,  I  suppose,  Bobby. 
Buncombe!  There  would  n't  be  an 
able-bodied  man  in  the  glorious  as 
semblage  —  except  the  band  and  the 
speakers.  Humbug  and  buncombe! 
True  patriotism  does  n't  go  about 
waving  the  flag  and  shouting.  Pa 
triotic  meetings  are  essentially  for 
women  and  children." 

Bobby  laughed  delightedly.  "No 
ble  sentiments,  Adam.  But  I  wish 
you  would." 

I  shook  my  head.  "  Never,"  I  said. 
"But  I  could  give  you  some  hints 
for  your  submarine  chasing.  You 
could  put  them  in  as  your  own  ideas 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE        43 

too.  I  promise  not  to  dispute  your 
claims." 

"  I'm  a  little  shy -of  your  hints,  but 
fire  away." 

"Well,  this  is  my  best.  I  have 
others,  but  they  are  too  obvious.  First 
you  would  have  to  set  a  spindle  on 
Great  Ledge,  a  spindle  with  a  capa 
cious  cage  at  the  top.  Another  one 
on  Sow  and  Pigs,  and  one  on  Hen  and 
Chickens,  and  on  Devil's  Bridge. 
Then,  when  there  were  some  sub 
marines  over  here, —  Germany  says 
there  are  none  now,  and  I  believe  it, — 
when  they  came,  put  a  live  pig  in  each 
of  the  cages.  It's  in  the  nature  of 
baiting  the  trap,  you  see.  All  you'd 
have  to  do  would  be  to  sit  tight,  and 
remove  the  wrecks.  They'd  all  pile 
up  on  those  ledges.  Germans  can't  re 
sist  the  lure  of  pig." 


44  THE   CLAMMER 

"That's  not  a  half  bad  idea, 
Adam,"  Bobby  said.  "Of  course  it 
might  be  necessary  to  renew  the  bait 
or  feed  the  pig,  but  that  would  be 
easy;  and  pig  is  pretty  high  just  now. 
There's  a  good  pun  there,  but  I'll 
leave  it  to  you.  —  Jimmy!" 

Jimmy  was  talking  to  the  girl  whose 
name  I  did  not  yet  know,  but  he 
turned  at  Bobby's  hail. 

"Jimmy,"  Bobby  said,  "Adam's 
just  given  me  a  most  valuable  hint 
for  trapping  submarines.  Here  it  is 
in  all  its  beauty."  And  he  proceeded 
to  give  my  idea  in  more  detail  than  I 
had  done,  adding  some  more  ledges 
which  appealed  to  him  as  likely  spots, 
Watch  Hill  Ledge,  to  the  east  of 
Fisher's  Island  being  one,  I  remem 
ber.  "You  forgot  that,  Adam.  It 
would  be  a  crackerjack,  almost  level 


AND  THE    SUBMARINE        45 

with  the  water.  In  any  sea  at  all,  and 
the  tide  right,  the  water  opens  every 
little  while  and  shows  the  rock.  It's 
fearsome." 

"Is  Adam  going  to  leave  all  the 
work  of  danger,"  asked  Jimmy,  "to 
us?" 

"Yes,"  Bobby  cried,  "that's  what 
I  want  to  know.  Like  baiting  the 
traps,  you  know.  It'll  be  no  snap  to 
get  the  pigs  into  their  cages." 

"You  can't  expect  to  have  all  your 
problems  solved  for  you,  Bobby,"  I 
said.  "You  would  always  have  the 
benefit  of  my  counsel,  and  giving 
counsel  to  you  and  Jimmy  is  not 
without  its  dangers.  Besides,"  I 
added,  modestly  I  hope,  "I  did  have 
something  else  in  mind.  In  addition 
to  the  arduous  toil  of  tilling  the 
soil  —  " 


46  THE    CLAMMER 

"Gut  that,"  said  Bobby.  "As  if 
you  did  n't  always  till  the  soil!" 

"  In  addition  to  that,"  I  continued 
with  dignity,  "I  thought  of  organ 
izing  a  company  to  protect  some  of 
our  most  valuable  property  here.  It 
would  be  a  sort  of  Home  Guard.  Sub 
marines,  if  they  escaped  the  traps  and 
the  hawk  eyes  of  the  patrol  fleet,  and 
the  stings  of  the  wasps,  might  get 
into  the  harbor.  Then  they  would 
surely  get  aground,  possibly  on  my 
clam  beds,  and  they  would  ruin  the 
dispositions  of  my  clams.  So  I 
thought  of  mounting  a  gun  on  the 
point  —  with  Mr.  Goodwin's  permis 
sion  —  and  enrolling  all  here  present 
in  the  Clam  Beds  Protective  Com 
pany,  of  which  I  should  be  captain." 

Old  Goodwin  applauded  the  idea  at 
once,  but  as  well  as  I  could  judge  in 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE        47 

the  confusion  which  followed,  Jimmy 
and  Bobby  and  Tom  Ellis  were  not 
of  the  same  mind. 

Finally  Tom  made  himself  heard. 
"What  I  want  to  know,  Adam,"  he 
asked,  ''is  where  do  we  come  in?  I 
think  I  voice  a  general  question." 

"I  was  about  to  nominate  Mr. 
Goodwin  for  colonel, —  honorary,  if 
he  prefers, —  and  Jimmy  for  adjutant, 
and  Bobby  and  Mr.  Ogilvie  for  lieu 
tenants.  Those  posts  would  have  to 
be  honorary  also,  unless  the  navy 
could  be  prevailed  upon  to  assign 
them  to  that  duty.  I  don't  see  that 
there  is  anything  left  for  you,  Tom, 
but  to  be  the  private.  It  would  be  a 
highly  honorable  office.  You  would 
be  the  only  private." 

"I  say,"  Tom  protested,  "I  like 
that!  But  I  have  an  idea.  What 


48  THE   CLAMMER 

about  the  Susies  who  sew  shirts  for 
soldiers?  Are  n't  you  going  to  give 
them  a  chance?" 

Eve  interrupted  at  this  point.  I 
was  glad  to  have  her. 

"Oh,  yes,  he  will,"  she  said.  "I 
promise  that  he  will." 

"Seems  to  me  that  Eve  ought  to 
be  elected  captain,"  Tom  observed. 
"  But  perhaps  it  is  n't  necessary.  She 
will  be  anyway."  They  all  laughed 
at  that  —  all  but  me  and  Ogilvie. 
Eve  noticed  that.  I  did  not  see  any 
thing  ridiculous  about  the  idea.  I  am 
glad  to  serve  under  Eve,  and  every 
body  knows  it. 

"I  will  enroll  Cecily,"  Tom  pur 
sued;  "but,  Adam,  make  me  a  ser 
geant,  won't  you?"  he  added  in  a 
hoarse  whisper.  "  I  want  to  have 
some  authority  over  her." 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE        49 

"I'll  see  about  it.  I  shall  have  to 
think  it  over,  and  perhaps  get  some 
advice."  And  Tom  turned  at  once  to 
Eve,  and  whispered,  and  she  smiled 
and  nodded. 

"The  uniform,  Adam?"  asked  Old 
Goodwin.  "  Don't  put  us  to  any  un 
necessary  expense." 

"  I  was  about  to  speak  of  that.  I 
have  brought  some  samples  with  me." 
And  I  held  up  my  boots  and  my  clam 
hoe. 

Old  Goodwin  smiled.  "That  is 
very  satisfactory."  He  looked  at 
Tom.  "If  anybody  prefers  a  rake  for 
arms,  I  suppose  there  would  be  no 
objection,  Adam?" 

I  shook  my  head.  Then  there  were 
objections  from  Jimmy  and  Bobby, 
on  the  ground  that  they  would  have 
to  buy  boots  and  hoe,  and  that  the 


50  THE   CLAMMER 

boots  would  be  new  and  not  in  keep 
ing.  But  I  said  that,  as  their  offices 
were  honorary,  they  would  not  have 
to  provide  themselves  with  uniforms, 
and  they  could  go  clamming  in  their 
naval  uniforms  if  they  liked.  I  should 
not  object. 

"Well,"  said  Bobby  thoughtfully, 
"we  have  boots  and  slickers  and  sou'- 
westers.  Perhaps  they  will  do.  When 
is  the  first  meeting  of  our  company  — 
at  the  clam  beds,  Adam?" 

I  told  him  that  it  was  a  trifle  early 
for  that  yet.  It  would  be  as  soon  as  I 
thought  it  safe  for  the  clams.  Then  a 
thought  struck  me. 

"How  does  it  happen,"  I  asked, 

"that  a  patrol  boat  can  be  coming  in 

here  —  for  all  the  world  like  a  yacht 

-  and  all  its  officers  come  ashore,  as 

if  they  had  nothing  to  do?" 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE         51 

Eve  had  been  silent  for  some  min 
utes,  occupied  with  her  daughter,who 
stood  silent  beside  her.  Tidda  had 
been  strangely  quiet. 

"Yes,  Bobby,"  said  Eve,  "account 
for  yourself.  What  are  you  here  for? 
It  is  not  for  nothing." 

"Sh!  The  movements  of  shipping 
are  not  to  be  reported.  But  I  don't 
mind  telling  you,  Eve,  that  we  regard 
this  as  a  base,  in  a  sense.  I  came  be 
cause  my  superior  officer  ordered  it. 
I  don't  know  his  reasons,  but  I  sur 
mise  that  he  hoped  that  some  of  you 
people  would  be  charitable  enough  to 
ask  us  to  dinner." 

Jimmy  grinned,  and  Old  Goodwin 
smiled,  but  he  said  nothing.  Jimmy 
Wales  and  Bobby  are  especial  favor 
ites  of  his,  and  Bobby  is  his  nephew. 

"I    speak,"    said   Eve,    "for   Mr. 


52  THE   CLAMMER 

Ogilvie.  You  can't  come,  Bobby. 
You'll  have  to  stay  here  with 
Jimmy." 

"Oh,  I  say,  Eve!" 

"No.  You  may  bring  Mr.  Ogilvie 
within  sight  of  the  house,  and  show 
it  to  him."  She  turned  to  Ogilvie. 
"You'll  come?"  she  asked,  holding 
out  her  hand. 

Ogilvie  seems  a  nice  young  chap. 
He  bowed  very  prettily  over  Eve's 
hand,  and  said  something  nice,  I  am 
sure,  for  I  was  watching  Eve's  face. 
I  can  tell  always.  And  Ogilvie  smiled, 
and  Eve  got  up  to  go,  and  I  got  up 
too,  of  course,  and  Jimmy  and  Bobby 
and  everybody  got  up  one  at  a  time, 
as  if  it  were  a  prayer-meeting.  It 
broke  up  the  party  to  have  Eve  go. 
Eve's  going  is  very  apt  to  break  up 
any  party. 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE         53 

Bobby  came  out  with  us  through 
the  interminable  series  of  piazzas. 

"I  say,"  he  whispered,  "who's  the 
new  girl,  Adam?  Do  you  know?" 

I  shook  my  head.  "I  did  n't  hear 
her  name,  Bobby,  and  I  don't  know 
anything  about  her.  She  is  attractive." 

"M-m.   I'll  ask  Eve." 

Eve  said  that  the  girl's  name  was 
Elizabeth  Radnor,  but  she  knew  noth 
ing  about  her,  and  had  never  heard  of 
her  before.  "But,"  she  added,  "why 
don't  you  ask  Jimmy?  —  or  Mr. 
Ogilvie?  He  knew  her  before." 

"  So  he  did.  Good  idea,  Eve.  I  will. 
But  Jimmy  ought  to  be  ashamed  of 
himself.  He's  married,  and  I  might 
tell  Madge.  We  never  know  what  we 
might  do." 

Eve  laughed  at  him.  "Did  .you 
think  you  could  worry  Margaret?" 


54  THE   CLAMMER 

"  I  thought  perhaps  I  could  wor 
ry  Jimmy.  But  he  does  n't  worry 
much."  We  were  at  the  head  of  the 
steps.  "Well,  good-bye,  hard  heart, 
spurning  the  beggar  from  your  door. 
I  hope  your  conscience  will  give  you 
no  rest." 

Eve  laughed  again,  and  Tidda 
piped  up  a  good-bye,  and  Bobby 
turned  back.  And,  by  the  time  we 
had  reached  the  bottom  of  the  steps, 
Old  Goodwin  had  caught  us,  and  had 
taken  Tidda's  hand. 
.  "I  thought  I'd  better  come, 
Adam,"  he  said,  "and  see  about  the 
emplacement  for  that  gun." 

So  we  wandered  down  to  the  bank, 
where  the  sod  breaks  off 'to  the  sand, 
and  we  lingered  there,  saying  noth 
ing  and  watching  the  sun  get  lower. 
And  the  day,  that  had  been  as  warm 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE        55 

as  summer,  grew  somewhat  chill  as 
the  sun  sank  nearer  to  the  bearded 
hills,  and  our  daughter  was  restless 
and  wanted  to  go  home.  So  we 
wended  along  the  shore,  and  Old 
Goodwin  left  us,  and  we  went  up 
the  steep  path  that  leads  to  my  bluff, 
and  there  we  found  Ogilvie  under 
my  pine,  standing  silent  and  looking 
out  over  the  harbor  to  the  west. 

Ogilvie  was  modest  and  unassum 
ing  and  pleasant.  He  spoke  when  he 
was  spoken  to,  and  sometimes  when 
he  was  not,  but  he  did  not  volunteer 
anything  about  himself,  although  he 
was  very  ready  to  answer  questions. 
Eve  succeeded  in  finding  out  some 
thing  about  him  without  seeming  to 
try.  He  went  down  to  Newport  about 
the  first  of  April.  Naturally  enough, 
he  seemed  a  little  disappointed  that 


56  THE   CLAMMER 

the  authorities  at  Newport  had  not 
seemed  to  be  ready  for  him,  and 
that  his  preparation  had  been  largely 
a  waste  of  time.  He  had  been  four 
days  on  a  watch  boat,  guarding 
Newport  harbor,  piloting  vessels  in 
through  the  nets,  and  incidentally, 
one  very  thick  night,  carrying  away 
the  mooring  buoys  of  one  of  the  nets; 
then  he  had  been  put  on  police  duty 
in  Newport,  running  in  drunken  sail 
ors,  or  just  walking  back  and  forth 
on  his  beat,  trying  to  keep  awake. 
Then  there  had  been  more  drill, 
and  he  had  been  transferred  to  the 
Rattlesnake. 

Then  we  talked  of  books,  the  the 
atre,  and  gardening,  in  which  he  had 
had  experience.  My  heart  warmed 
to  him,  and  we  discussed  corn  and 
melons  and  asparagus  and  peas 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE         57 

and  beans  and  squashes  and  cucum 
bers  and  chard  and  >okra  and  such 
like  for  more  than  an  hour.  From 
them  we  progressed  to  more  intimate 
things,  when  suddenly  a  noise  started 
just  outside  the  window,  and  he  rose 
with  a  smile,  saying  that  it  was  a 
noise  of  Jimmy  and  Bobby  singing 
"Poor  Butterfly,"  and  he  supposed 
it  meant  that  he  must  go.  And  he 
thanked  us  very  nicely,  and  went  out 
into  the  night.  I  went  with  him  and 
asked  them  in,  but  they  assured  me 
that  I  was  an  ungrateful  wretch,  and 
they  would  have  nothing  to  do  with 
me  and  my  invitation. 

So  they  went  off  down  my  steep 
path  to  the  shore,  still  singing  "Poor 
Butterfly,"  I  suppose,  although  I  am 
unfamiliar  with  modern  classics.  And 
Eve  came  out  and  joined  me,  and  we 


58  THE   CLAMMER 

heard  them  going  along  the  shore, 
stumbling  over  great  pebbles,  and  the 
poor  butterfly  fluttering  off  into  the 
distance.  And  when  we  could  hear 
no  more  of  it  we  went  in,  and  I  shut 
the  door  as  softly  as  I  could,  but  the 
sound  of  its  shutting  went  booming 
through  the  house;  and  I  smiled  as  I 
blew  out  the  candles,  and  I  was  smil 
ing  still  as  Eve  took  my  hand  in  hers 
and  we  mounted  the  stairs  together. 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE       59 


III 

JOFFRE  was  in  Boston  on  Satur 
day,  the  1 2th  of  May.  Vivianialso 
was  there,  and  some  others,  but  the 
marshal,  the  hero  of  the  Marne,  was 
the  attraction.  Eve  acknowledged  as 
much  to  me  on  the  evening  before  the 
event. 

"I  do  want  to  see  him,"  she  said, 
"and  I  suppose  you  '11  think  it  foolish, 
but  I'm  going  up.  Probably  I  shall 
cry  when  I  see  him.  Adam,"  she  add 
ed  somewhat  wistfully,  "you  don't 
want  to  go,  I  suppose?  Father  will 
take  us  in  his  car  —  the  new  one." 

That  about  the  "new  one"  was 
plainly  nothing  more  than  bait. 

"Why  should  I  want  to  go,"  I  said, 
"except  to  go  with  you?  I  always 


60  THE   CLAMMER 

want  to  do  that.  And  I  should  be 
glad  to  be  with  your  father,  but  no 
more  in  his  new  one  than  on  our  bank 
at  the  shore.  Not  so  much.  There  is 
much  to  do  here.  Why  should  I  want 
to  go,  Eve?  I  don't  want  to  cry." 

She  laughed.  "No  reason,  Adam, 
unless  it  is  to  stir  your  imagination." 

"My  imagination  is  stirred  suffi 
ciently  here.  You  know  that  I  detest 
crowds,  and  parades.  And  I  was  go 
ing  to  plant  again  to-morrow." 

She  sighed  softly,  and  smiled  ador 
ably.  "Well,  Adam,  plant  then.  I 
knew  it  would  bore  you  to  go.  The 
middle  of  a  crowd  watching  a  parade 
is  no  place  for  you.  I  should  love  to 
have  you  with  me,  but  I  think  you 
had  better  not  come.  I  don't  want 
you  to  cry."  And  she  laughed  a  little, 
unsteadily. 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE        61 

"  I  might,"  I  said  somewhat  gruffly. 
"It  is  conceivable.  But  there  is  one 
thing.  I  hate  to  speak  of  it.  Your 
father  ought  not  to  go  off  on  these 
long  trips  any  more  without  a  chauf 
feur.  There  may  be  hard  work  to  do, 
and  he  is  —  not  young,  Eve.  Be 
sides  —  " 

"He  is  going  to  take  a  chauffeur," 
said  Eve,  interrupting  me  hurriedly. 
"  I  think  it  almost  breaks  his  heart  to 
acknowledge  it,  but  he  realizes  that 
he  ought  to.  Of  course  that  would  n't 
make  any  difference  about  your  go- 
ing." 

I  shook  my  head.  It  was  no  part 
of  my  objection  that  I  might  be  called 
upon  to  do  some  hard  work.  I  had 
planned  to  do  a  good  deal  of  hard 
work  at  home. 

So  Eve  set  off  about  eleven  the  next 


6a  THE    CLAMMER 

morning  alone  with  her  father  and 
the  chauffeur.  Old  Goodwin  was  in 
the  driver's  seat,  and  it  did  not  seem 
likely  that  the  chauffeur  would  have 
anything  to  do.  And  I  stood  in  my 
garden  clothes,  leaning  on  my  hoe, 
and  waved  a  good-bye  to  them,  feel 
ing  half  regretful  and  wholly  self-re 
proachful;  and  Eve  made  her  father 
stop,  and  she  called  me,  and  I  came 
running,  and  she  leaned  out  and  kissed 
me,  and  she  went  off  smiling.  I  looked 
after  them,  and  they  had  not  gone 
more  than  a  hundred  yards  or  so 
when  they  stopped  again,  and  Tom 
Ellis  and  Cecily  came  out  of  their 
door  and  got  into  the  back  seat  with 
Eve.  And  I  smiled,  and  turned,  and 
went  back  to  my  garden,  thinking 
that  the  best  of  women  —  and  I  gave 
a  little  start,  for  it  had  occurred  to 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE        63 

me  that  the  chauffeur  was  a  French 
man.  And  I  wondered  if  they  —  but 
of  course  they  did.  Such  things  do 
not  happen  by  accident  —  with  Old 
Goodwin  and  Eve. 

It  was  cold  for  the  season.  It  had 
been  cold  and  wet  for  three  weeks, 
and  my  corn  was  not  up,  nor  my 
melons  that  I  had  put  in  three  weeks 
before,  nor  my  beans.  My  experi 
ment  with  melons  has  not  yet  been  a 
failure  if  it  has  not  been  a  success  this 
year.  I  was  doubtful  about  the  corn, 
so  I  dug  up  a  kernel,  and  I  found  it 
sprouted,  and  I  put  it  back  and  cov 
ered  it.  My  peas  were  up,  and  doing 
bravely,  and  the  beans  were  about 
breaking  through,  for  the  earth  was 
cracked  all  along  the  rows.  And  I  got 
out  my  sections  of  stout  wire  fencing, 
and  put  them  in  place  along  the  rows 


64  THE   CLAMMER 

of  peas.  They  take  the  place  of  pea- 
brush,  and  are  much  easier  to  put  up 
and  to  take  down.  The  fencing  is 
fastened  to  stout  posts,  and  the  posts 
have  pieces  of  iron,  about  a  foot  and  a 
half  long,  shaped  much  like  a  marlin- 
spike,  bolted  to  them  for  driving  into 
the  ground.  I  can  take  my  sledge 
hammer  and  drive  the  posts,  and  get 
a  row  of  peas  wired  in  a  tenth  the 
time  needed  to  set  brush,  and  the 
fencing  is  much  less  expensive,  in  the 
long  run.  My  fences  have  done  ser 
vice  for  thirteen  years  already,  and 
they  are  perfectly  good. 

So  I  fussed  around  among  the  peas, 
and  planted  more  corn  and  more 
beans,  and  more  melons,  and  a  row 
of  chard,  and  two  rows  of  okra,  and 
some  other  things.  I  often  think  that 
the  place  for  tall  green  okra  is  the 


AND  THE    SUBMARINE         65 

flower  garden.  The  blossoms  are 
beautiful,  delicate  things,  more  beau 
tiful  than  most  of  the  hollyhocks. 
And  now  and  then  I  stopped  my 
planting  —  a  man  has  to  rest  his  back 
—  and  I  leaned  on  my  hoe  or  my  rake 
or  whatever  I  happened  to  have  in 
my  hand,  and  I  thought  my  thoughts. 
They  were  many,  and  they  were  not, 
at  such  moments,  of  my  planting,  if 
The  harbor  was  almost  empty  still. 
There  was  but  one  fisherman's  boat 
and  two  motor  boats,  little  fellows, 
not  suited  to  patrolling.  And  the  sky 
was  gray,  and  getting  darker,  and  the 
winter  gulls  flying  across,  and  wheel 
ing  and  screaming  harshly.  Occa 
sionally  a  gull  beat  across  my  garden, 
flying  low  and  screaming  his  harsh 
note.  I  watched  them,  and  envied 
them  until  I  saw  a  fish-hawk  sailing 


66  THE   CLAMMER 

high  up  among  the  clouds.  Then  I 
envied  him:  his  calmness  and  seren 
ity,  and  his  powers  of  wing  and  eye, 
seeing  the  swimming  fish  from  that 
height,  and  perfectly  secure.  Then, 
naturally  enough,  I  thought  of  aero 
planes,  sailing  and  circling  like  the 
great  hawk,  and  seeing  their  prey  as 
surely  as  he.  I  never  had  the  slightest 
wish  to  go  up  in  an  aeroplane.  The 
hawk  seems  secure  in  his  sailing,  the 
aeroplane  does  not,  and  I  may  envy 
the  hawk  while  shrinking  unaccount 
ably  from  the  aeroplane.  But  if  they 
can  see  the  submarine  from  up  there, 
and  can  pounce  upon  it  as  surely  as 
the  hawk  strikes  his  fish  —  well,  if 
we  had  a  plague  of  submarines,  it 
would  be  a  comfort  to  see  a  hawk 
now  and  then.  And  I  thought  of 
Jimmy  Wales  and  Bobby  Leverett 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE        67 

and  Ogilvie  searching  the  waters  for 
that  which  was  not. 

Jimmy  has  put  in  here  every  few 
days.  It  is  hard  to  see  why,  but  we 
have  seen  a  good  deal  of  Ogilvie  and 
Bobby,  and  Bobby  has  seen  more  or 
less  of  Elizabeth  Radnor.  She  is  still 
rather  a  mystery  to  me,  a  girl  that 
Mrs.  Goodwin  chanced  upon  some 
where,  and  took  a  great  fancy  to. 
That  is  not  strange,  that  Miss  Rad 
nor  should  have  been  fancied,  but  it 
is  strange  that  Mrs.  Goodwin  should 
have  taken  the  fancy,  and  that  she 
should  have  asked  her  here  for  an  in 
definite  stay.  Mrs.  Goodwin  did  not 
use  to  fancy  obscure  teachers  of  ath 
letics  or  gymnastics  or  dancing  in 
girls'  schools,  and  Miss  Radnor  is 
or  was  something  of  the  kind.  She 
may  be  giving  lessons  in  dancing  to 


68  THE    CLAMMER 

Mrs.  Goodwin  for  all  I  know  —  or 
to  Bobby.  It  is  not  of  much  conse 
quence.  If  Bobby  should  really  come 
upon  submarines,  it  would  be  of  lit 
tle  consequence  to  him. 

Thinking  upon  submarines,  there 
came  into  my  head  the  account  that 
I  had  just  seen  in  the  London ' '  Times  " 
of  the  capture  of  a  submarine  by  a 
trawler.  As  I  recollect  it,  the  trawler 
was  going  about  her  business  in  the 
North  Sea  —  a  business  not  uncon 
nected  with  submarines  —  when  sud 
denly  a  submarine  began  to  emerge 
from  the  deep  just  ahead.  The  trawl 
er  put  on  all  the  speed  she  had  time 
for,  and  rammed  the  submarine  amid 
ships,  sliding  up  on  its  body  half 
her  length,  so  that  the  captain  found 
himself  well-nigh  stranded  near  the 
periscope.  Whereupon  he  called  for 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE         69 

an  axe,  and  smashed  that  periscope 
into  scrap  iron  and  fragments  of  glass. 
The  trawler  then  slid  off,  and  the  sub 
marine  opened,  and  the  crew  poured 
forth  upon  her  deck  and  forthwith 
surrendered,  and  the  trawler  towed 
them  into  an  English  port.  Thinking 
upon  this,  I  laughed  aloud  to  the  gulls 
and  the  hawk.  I  had  refrained  from 
going  to  Boston  to  have  my  imagina 
tion  stirred  by  looking  at  a  parade 
and  listening  to  the  bands! 

To  stir  my  imagination !  I  had  but 
to  picture  to  myself  the  destroyer 
fight  in  the  Channel  on  the  night  of 
April  20,  two  English  destroyers, 
Swift  and  Broke,  against  six  German 
destroyers,  in  the  darkness  of  a  black 
night;  a  five-minute  battle,  but  those 
five  minutes  crowded  full.  Ramming, 
torpedoing,  repelling  boarders,  fight- 


70  THE    CLAMMER 

ing  with  pistols  and  cutlases  and 
bayonets,  responding  to  a  treacher 
ous  call  to  save  —  it  was  all  worthy  of 
the  times  of  Drake.  Stir  my  imag 
ination  !  I  found  myself  starting  for 
ward  and  brandishing  the  hoe,  my 
breath  coming  fast,  and  my  eyes, 
I  have  no  doubt,  flashing  fire.  I 
laughed  again.  It  was  raining.  It 
had  been  raining,  I  suppose,  for  five 
minutes  at  least,  and  I  had  not  known 
it.  I  gathered  up  my  tools,  put  them 
in  the  shed,  and  went  into  the  house 
to  change  my  clothes,  and  to  consume 
my  pint  of  milk,  while  my  daughter, 
opposite  me,  consumed  hers  —  and 
some  other  things  besides. 

After  luncheon  I  put  on  my  rubber 
boots  and  went  out.  It  was  still  rain 
ing,  a  good  hard  drizzle  from  the 
southeast.  It  suited  me  well  enough, 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE        71 

and  I  wandered  the  shores  all  the 
afternoon,  or  stood  in  the  shelter  of  a 
tree  and  looked  out  over  the  bay.  I 
liked  it.  There  is  something  soothing 
and  at  the  same  time  stirring  in  such 
a  day  and  such  a  place.  There  was 
a  good  heavy  breeze,  and  the  seas 
marched,  and  the  sound  of  their  break 
ing,  and  the  fresh  wet  wind  on  my 
cheek,  and  the  gray  veil  of  rain  over 
the  rolling  water,  with  not  a  sail  or  so 
much  as  a  smudge  of  smoke  in  sight 
—  well,  it  is  hardly  worth  while  to 
say  how  it  affects  me.  Those  who 
feel  as  I  do  will  not  need  to  be  told, 
and  for  those  who  do  not  it  would  be 
useless.  But  man  seems  a  little  thing, 
and  the  affairs  of  man  of  no  impor 
tance  —  absolutely  none. 

As  the  afternoon  wore  on,  the  driz 
zle  became  less  and  finally  stopped, 


72  THE   CLAMMER 

although  it  was  still  gray.  And  then 
the  clouds  began  to  break,  and  I  wan 
dered  homeward  along  the  shore,  and 
I  climbed  the  steep  path,  and  sat  me 
on  the  seat  under  my  great  pine, 
where  I  could  see  the  water  and  the 
sun  when  he  was  ready  to  show  his 
face.  A  long  time  I  sat  there,  and  I 
heard  no  sound  from  the  harbor  ex 
cept  the  screams  of  the  gulls,  and  no 
sound  from  the  land  except  the  sound 
of  the  wind  blowing  among  the  nee 
dles  of  the  pine  above  my  head.  And 
at  last  the  gulls  were  gone,  and  the 
sun  peeped  out  from  under  the  edge 
of  the  ragged  and  scudding  cloud,  and 
I  felt  a  gentle  touch  upon  my  arm. 
And  I  turned  my  head  and  looked, 
and  there  was  Pukkie;  Pukkie,  my 
little  son,  my  well-beloved. 

I  put  both  arms  around  him,  and  I 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE         73 

hugged  him  shamelessly.  I  was  glad 
to  feel  that  he  hugged  me  in  turn,  and 
hugged  me  hard.  Usually  I  put  my 
arm  around  him  gently  and  surrep 
titiously,  for  I  would  not  draw  his 
attention  to  the  act.  I  dread  the  time 
when  he  will  shrink  from  my  em 
braces;  but  that  time  does  not  seem 
to  have  come  yet. 

"Oh,  Pukkie!"  I  cried.  "My  dear 
little  son,  where  in  the  world  did  you 
come  from?" 

He  laughed  delightedly.  "From 
school,"  he  said;  and  he  nestled 
against  me. 

"But  how  did  you  get  here?  Your 
mother  went  —  but  have  you  seen 
her?  Where  is  she?" 

He  glanced  up  over  my  shoulder, 
and  smiled.  "Turn  around,  daddy." 

And   there   came   from   over   my 


74  THE   CLAMMER 

head  a  low  ripple  of  laughter,  and  I 
looked  up  into  Eve's  lovely,  smiling 
face.  She  slipped  down  upon  the  seat 
beside  me,  and  I  reached  out  for  her 
hand,  that  was  already  reaching  out 
for  mine,  and  her  fingers  clasped  mine 
close. 

"My  goodness,  Eve,"  I  said,  "but 
I  'm  glad  to  have  you  back  —  and 
Pukkie." 

"You're  no  gladder  to  have  me 
than  I  am  to  get  back.  I  don't  ever 
want  to  go  anywhere  without  you, 
Adam.  But  I  've  seen  him  —  seen 
Joffre  —  and  I  waved  with  all  my 
might,  and  I  cried.  I  knew  I  should." 

"And  Pukkie?" 

"Oh,  father  stopped  for  him  on  the 
way  up.  He  said  until  the  end  of  the 
year  was  too  long  to  wait,  and  he'd 
bring  him  back  in  two  days.  The 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE        75 

headmaster  did  n't  want  to  let  him 
go,  but  father  generally  has  his  way. 
And  it  began  to  rain,  but  we  did  n't 
mind." 

"And  when  you  saw  Joffre  you 
wept?" 

"  Not  exactly.  There  was  a  young 
fellow  standing  in  the  crowd  quietly, 
with  his  arm  in  a  sling.  He  was  hardly 
more  than  a  boy,  and  he  looked  sick. 
He  had  beautiful  sombre  eyes,  with  a 
look  in  them  that  —  well,  as  if  he  had 
seen  so  much,  and  as  if  he  did  not 
quite  understand.  You  should  have 
seen  his  eyes.  Like  a  wild  thing.  And 
when  Joffre  came,  I  thought  he  would 
go  crazy.  He  waved  his  cap  franti 
cally,  and  the  tears  just  streamed  out 
of  his  eyes,  and  you  should  have 
heard  him.  Joffre  heard,  and  saw,  and 
he  leaned  out  of  the  car,  and  he  sa- 


76  THE   CLAMMER 

luted  that  boy.  My!  That  boy  was 
proud.  You  can  guess  —  that  was 
when  I  cried.  And  we  got  him  into 
the  car  with  us.  He  did  n't  look  able 
to  go  far.  He  was  a  soldier  who  had 
been  with  the  Canadians  over  there, 
a  Frenchman  by  birth.  He  told  us  a 
little  about  it,  but  he  did  n't  seem  to 
want  to  talk.  He  had  been  wounded, 
and  sick,  and  had  come  back  over 
here  on  sick  leave  or  something  of  the 
kind.  And  he  and  Lejeune,  the  chauf 
feur,  got  to  talking,  and  we  took  him 
home.  He  wants  to  get  back  into  the 
fighting  as  soon  as  he  can.  And  when 
he  got  out,  Lejeune  got  out  too.  He 
was  going  to  enlist." 

"Left  you  on  the  spot?" 

Eve  laughed.  "Yes,"  she  said, 
"but  I  rather  guess  that  it  wasn't 
unexpected.  I  should  n't  be  surprised 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE        77 

if  that  was  what  father  took  him  for. 
At  any  rate,  father  just  smiled,  and 
gave  them  both  his  blessing,  and  told 
Lejeune  to  come  back  when  the  war 
was  over.  And  he  gave  him  some 
money,  and  said  that  they  could  di 
vide  it  between  them." 

"How  much,  I  wonder?" 

"I  don't  know  how  much,  but  a 
good  deal,  considerably  more  than  a 
hundred  dollars.  He  had  a  note  al 
ready  written,  too,  a  'character,'  as 
the  maids  call  it,  saying  that  he  was  a 
good  chauffeur.  Then  Tom  —  he  had 
been  getting  uneasy  —  said  that  he 
wanted  to  be  in  on  this  too,  but  he 
was  n't  so  well  prepared  as  father. 
And  he  gave  them  all  he  had  with 
him,  except  a  dollar  or  two.  That  was 
too  much  for  the  French  boy,  and  he 
waved  his  cap  again,  and  cried,  '  Vive 


78  THE   CLAMMER 

la  France!  Vive  VAmerique!'  with  the 
tears  streaming  down  his  face  again. 
And  I  cried  some  more,  and  so  did 
Cecily.  Oh,  I  had  a  lovely  time, 
Adam." 

Eve  was  laughing  again,  and  press 
ing  closer  to  me.  "That  French  boy 
was  a  machinist  before  he  went  to  the 
war,  and  Lejeune  is  a  good  chauffeur, 
and  I  should  n't  wonder  if  they'd 
both  get  into  driving  when  they  get 
over  there.  I  hope  so.  But  he  was  n't 
thinking  of  that,  the  French  boy.  He 
is  ready  to  go  back,  when  his  time 
comes,  and  meet  his  fate  with  a  high 
heart.  With  a  high  heart,  Adam. 
Oh,"  she  cried,  "don't  you  think  it  is 
stirring  —  just  a  little  —  to  the  im 
agination?  Don't  you?"  And  she 
gave  me  a  little  shake. 

I  nodded  soberly,  and  hugged  Puk- 


AND  THE    SUBMARINE        79 

kie  closer.  "  I  rejoice,  Eve,"  I  said 
irrelevantly,  "that  Pukkie  is  not  yet 
eleven." 

Eve  did  not  reply  directly.  Her 
eyes  filled  with  tears,  and  she  drew 
Pukkie  around  between  us.  "I  sup 
pose  it  is  selfish,"  she  said.  "If  a 
French  machinist  goes  —  only  about 
eight  or  nine  years  older  than  Pukkie 
—  and  can  stir  me  all  up  with  the 
idea  of  it  —  why  — " 

She  did  not  finish,  so  I  did  not 
know  what  she  would  have  asked. 
But  I  could  guess. 

"War  is  wicked,"  I  said.  "There 
is  no  novelty  in  that  idea.  But  if  a 
wicked  war  is  started,  it  may  be  more 
wicked  to  keep  out  of  it  than  to  go 
in,  and  there  may  be  more  misery 
involved  in  keeping  out  than  in  going 
in.  I  don't  know  about  this  one,  and 


8o  THE    CLAMMER 

I  don't  believe  that  anybody  knows. 
One  thing  I  do  know,  and  that  is  that 
wars  will  continue  to  occur  at  inter 
vals  as  long  as  human  nature  is  what 
it  is.  Man  is  a  fighting  animal.  When 
he  ceases  to  be,  the  time  of  his  fall 
will  have  arrived.  I  have  spoken." 

Eve  laughed  merrily.  "But  you 
have  not  finished.  Go  on,  oracle." 

"  No  more  from  the  oracle.  Only  a 
purely  personal  observation.  I  could 
go  into  the  fighting  with  a  sort  of  a 
titillation  —  an  unholy  joy  in  fight 
ing  for  its  own  sake,  quite  apart  from 
any  feeling  for  any  cause.  I  believe 
that  that  is  the  feeling  which  ani 
mates  most  men  who  volunteer  to 
fight.  Of  course  they  choose  their 
side  from  conviction.  At  least,  it  is 
to  be  hoped  that  they  do.  But  as  for 
the  actual  combat,  there  is  a  joy  in 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE         81 

the  fight  —  why,  that  alone  accounts 
for  all  our  games,  at  bottom." 

Eve  was  looking  at  me  doubtfully. 
"But,  Adam,"  she  said  slowly,  "you 
don't  mean  to  —  you  are  n't  going 
to—" 

I  shook  my  head.  "  I  have  no  such 
intention.  Make  your  mind  easy.  I 
have  a  dependent  family.  I  don't 
know  what  you  would  do  without  my 
efforts  to  support  you.  It  would  be  a 
terrible  misfortune  if  you  were  cast 
upon  your  father's  shoulders.  You 
might  starve." 

Eve  seemed  to  be  amused.  But 
Pukkie  had  been  getting  uneasy,  and 
he  began  to  squirm.  Then  he  seized 
my  arm. 

' '  Look,  daddy.  See  that  big  schoon 
er.  I  never  saw  her  before.  What  is 
it?" 


82  THE   CLAMMER 

I  looked.  A  great  white  schooner 
was  headed  in,  and  she  was  almost 
at  the  entrance  of  the  harbor.  The 
wind  had  fallen  light  with  the  ap 
proach  of  the  sun  to  his  setting;  the 
schooner  had  all  her  light  sails  set 
and  came  on  fast.  Suddenly  the  light 
sails  began  to  come  off,  slacking  down, 
wrinkling,  and  gathered  in,  and  stow 
ed,  as  a  man  would  take  off  his  coat. 
Before  one  was  well  in  another  would 
start  slacking  down,  wrinkling,  gath 
ered  in,  and  stowed,  almost  as  fast  as 
I  tell  it.  That  meant  a  big  crew  well 
trained.  All  her  kites  were  stowed, 
and  she  began  rounding  into  the 
wind,  letting  her  jibs  go  as  she  came 
around.  She  shot  a  long  way,  but 
stopped  at  last,  and  her  chain  rattled 
out,  and  she  began  to  drift  astern. 
Then  her  foresail  came  down  steadily, 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE         83 

and  before  it  was  down,  sailors 
swarmed  out  upon  the  footropes  of 
the  mainboom,  and  the  great  main 
sail  began  to  come  down,  slowly  and 
steadily,  gathered  in  as  it  came  by 
the  men  upon  the  footropes.  By  the 
time  all  her  chain  was  paid  out,  and 
she  was  finally  at  rest,  all  her  sails 
were  furled,  and  they  were  getting  out 
the  covers. 

A  shining  mahogany  launch  was 
dropped  into  the  water,  run  back  to 
the  gangway,  and  a  girl  ran  lightly 
down  the  steps. 

"Elizabeth  Radnor,"  said  Eve, 
wondering.  "What  can  she  be  doing 
there?" 

"Perhaps  the  owners  take  lessons 
in  dancing,"  I  suggested. 

Eve  smiled.  "She  gives  lessons  in 
swimming  too,"  she  said. 


84  THE   CLAMMER 

A  man  followed  Miss  Radnor.  He 
seemed  strangely  familiar. 

"Bobby!"  cried  Eve.  "  I  think  it's 
funny.  I'm  sure  it's  Bobby." 

I  was  sure  it  was  Bobby.  It  might 
be  funny,  but  it  was  not  strange.  The 
launch  made  for  Old  Goodwin's  land 
ing  at  forty  miles  an  hour. 


I 


AND    THE   SUBMARINE        85 

IV 

LAY  against  the  bank  above  my 
clam  beds,  with  my  hands  clasped 
behind  my  head,  and  I  gazed  up  at 
the  whitish  blue  of  the  sky,  and  at  the 
little  floating  clouds  flecking  the  blue, 
and  at  an  occasional  herring  gull  fly 
ing  across  my  field  of  vision  with 
moderate  wing-beats  and  with  no 
apparent  object,  and  at  the  proces 
sion  of  screaming  terns  busy  at  their 
fishing.  For  the  terns  have  come, 
which  always  marks  the  change  of 
season  for  me,  but  the  winter  gulls 
have  not  all  gone.  And  I  looked  at 
the  tree  over  my  head,  and  I  cast  back 
over  the  years.  I  could  see  the  tree 
merely  by  raising  my  eyes,  without 
raising  my  head. 


86  THE   CLAMMER 

That  tree  has  associations  and  a 
history:  for  under  that  tree  Eve  stood 
the  fifth  time  that  I  saw  her,  —  I  re 
member  each  time,  — and  it  was  rain 
ing,  a  hard  drizzle  from  the  southeast, 
and  the  water  dripped  from  her  wide 
felt  hat,  and  shone  upon  her  long 
coat,  and  she  was  smiling.  So  that 
tree  has  associations  for  me  —  and 
for  Eve  as  well,  I  believe.  And  sun 
dry  pairs  of  rubber  boots  have  been 
hung  in  a  crotch  of  it,  both  Eve's, 
and  at  a  somewhat  later  time,  Old 
Goodwin's;  wherefore  it  has  a  history. 
And  here,  too,  just  where  my  head 
was  pillowed,  Eve  had  sat  but  a  scant 
two  hours  after  I  had  found  her  out, 
-  I  had  thought  she  was  a  governess 
in  Old  Goodwin's  house,  —  and  she 
had  set  us  both  right  for  ever.  And 
now  there  were  many  happy  years 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE         87 

behind  us,  and  more  happy  years 
ahead  of  us,  and  there  were  Pukkie 
and  Tidda ;  but  most  of  all  there  was 
Eve. 

So  I  lay  and  drank  in  the  sunshine, 
and  basked  in  its  warmth,  and  my 
mind  was  a  blank  save  for  these  pleas 
ant  musings.  My  poor  little  son!  All 
of  the  Sunday  that  he  was  here  — 
two  days  ago  —  it  rained  hard.  He 
did  not  seem  to  mind  it,  but  dragged 
me  out  in  it  —  he  had  not  such  hard 
work  to  get  me  out.  I  like  the  wet 
well  enough,  but  we  have  had  a  long 
stretch  of  cold  and  wet.  But  he  got 
me  out,  and  wandered  the  shore,  clad 
in  his  rubber  coat,  and  his  rubber 
boots,  and  his  little  sou'wester,  and 
he  watched  the  white  schooner;  but 
on  the  schooner  there  was  no  sign  of 
life  save  some  sailors  standing  like 


88  THE    CLAMMER 

statues  in  their  dripping  oilskins, 
and  a  man  in  a  pea-jacket  and  faded 
old  blue  cap,  who  paced  back  and 
forth  at  the  stern,  or  stood  still  by  the 
rail  for  long  periods,  and  then  took  up 
his  pacing  again.  And  Pukkie  looked 
up  at  me  and  asked  whether  I  thought 
he  was  the  captain  or  the  mate,  and 
would  have  gone  out  there  in  one 
of  Old  Goodwin's  boats,  with  me  to 
help  him  row.  But  I  refused.  It  is 
wet  and  uncomfortable  rowing  in  a 
pouring  rain;  better  standing. 

And  he  would  go  up  to  his  grand 
father's  in  the  hope  of  finding  Bobby 
Leverett.  So  we  went,  and  we  found 
Bobby  sitting  on  the  piazza  with  the 
telescope  and  Miss  Radnor;  and 
Pukkie  bearded  Bobby  in  his  chair, 
and  asked  him  point-blank  what  he 
had  been  doing  in  that  schooner.  We 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE        89 

had  told  Pukkie  about  the  Rattle 
snake,  and  Jimmy  Wales  and  Ogilvie. 

And  Bobby  grinned  at  my  son,  and 
answered  him,  if  you  call  it  an  answer. 

"  Sorry  not  to  be  able  to  tell  you, 
Puk,  old  chap,"  he  said,  "but  you 
know  we  are  enjoined  not  to  pub 
lish  information  of  the  movements 
of  vessels,  and  the  plans  of  the  navy 
are  a  dead  secret.  It  might  give  in 
formation  to  the  enemy."  And  he 
pointed  at  me. 

"Do  you  know  the  plans  of  the 
navy?"  asked  Pukkie. 

Bobby  laughed,  and  so  did  Miss 
Radnor.  "  I  refuse  to  answer,"  said 
Bobby,  "on  the  ground  that  it  would 
incriminate  me.  We  may  have  been 
out  baiting  our  traps.  Ask  your  father 
about  it." 

"  I  don't  believe  the  navy  has  any 


go  THE    CLAMMER 

plans,"  I  said,  "so  far  as  you  are  con 
cerned.  They  just  want  to  make  you 
think  that  you  are  busy." 

"Treason!"  Bobby  cried  loudly. 
"Treason!  I'm  afraid  it's  my  duty 
to  lay  charges  against  you,  Adam." 

"And  I,"  I  retorted,  "will  expel  you 
from  membership  in  the  Clam  Beds 
Protective  Company — if  you  persist." 

"There!"  said  Miss  Radnor."How 
will  you  like  that,  Mr.  Leverett?" 

"I  '11  have  to  give  in,"  Bobby 
replied.  "It's  a  cruel  and  unusual 
punishment,  and  therefore  unconsti 
tutional,  but  Adam  would  n't  mind  a 
little  thing  like  that.  I  am  moved  by 
the  thought  of  Eve's  grief,  although 
you  would  n't  think  that  a  good  sport 
like  Eve  would  object  to  a  traitor's 
taking  off.  I  surrender,  Adam.  Be 
merciful." 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE        91 

Our  noise  had  attracted  Old  Good 
win,  and  he  joined  us.  And,  thinking 
that  Bobby  might  as  well  be  left  to 
the  society  of  the  telescope  and  Miss 
Radnor,  we  left  him,  we  three,  and 
betook  ourselves  to  the  shore.  On  the 
white  schooner  the  man  in  the  pea- 
jacket  and  old  faded  blue  cap  was 
still  pacing  back  and  forth  by  the  rail, 
and  Pukkie  turned  to  his  grandfather 
and  asked  him  the  question  which  I 
could  not  answer. 

At  that  moment  the  man  caught 
sight  of  Old  Goodwin,  and  waved  his 
arm,  and  Old  Goodwin  answered  the 
wave. 

"That  is  Captain  Fergus,  Pukkie. 
He's  the  captain.  Some  years  ago  he 
was  captain  of  vessels  that  sailed  the 
deep  oceans." 

My  son  was  astonished.   Captains 


ga  THE    CLAMMER 

who  sail  the  deep  oceans  command 
his  unbounded  respect.  I  inferred 
from  his  reply  that  skippers  of  yachts, 
even  of  great  white  schooner  yachts, 
do  not. 

"Was  he?  "he  said.  "How  does  it 
happen  that  he  is  skippering  a  yacht 
then?" 

Old  Goodwin  laughed  his  pleasant, 
quiet  laugh. 

"He  owns  the  yacht  —  or  he  did. 
I  think  it  likely  that  he  gave  up  going 
to  sea  on  account  of  his  wife.  He  was 
married  four  or  five  years  ago." 

"Oh,  his  wife!"  my  son  replied  in 
accents  of  deep  scorn.  It  was  evi 
dently  incomprehensible  to  him  that 
a  man  should  give  up  such  a  delight 
ful  occupation  for  a  mere  wife. 

Old  Goodwin  laughed  again.  "I'd 
take  you  out  there  if  it  were  n't  so 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE        93 

wet.  But  never  mind.  She'll  be  in 
here  again  some  time  when  you  're  at 
home." 

Then  we  wandered  the  shores  until 
the  rain  stopped  and  the  sky  was  a 
mass  of  heavy  gray  clouds,  but  the 
sun  did  not  come  out ;  and  Pukkie  had 
to  go  in. 

The  next  morning  Pukkie  found 
that  the  yacht  had  gone,  and  Old 
Goodwin  took  him  back  to  school, 
alone  with  him  in  the  great  car.  Puk 
kie  did  not  mind  going  back.  He  has 
become  acclimated  at  school,  and  he 
likes  to  ride  with  his  grandfather, 
sitting  in  the  front  seat  with  all  the 
clocks  and  meters  and  switches  and 
the  little  lamps  like  eyes  and  the 
levers  and  pedals  spread  out  before 
him.  There  is  reason  to  suppose  that 
Old  Goodwin  gets  some  pleasure  out 


94  THE    CLAMMER 

of  it.  That  is  why  neither  Eve  nor  I 
went.  There  is  more  pleasure  for  him 
when  they  two  are  alone.  Old  Good 
win  and  his  grandson  are  great  chums. 
When  I  had  got  to  this  point  in  my 
ruminations,  I  realized  that  the  great 
pebbles  under  me,  although  partly 
cushioned  by  sand  and  by  the  dried 
seaweed  which  had  washed  up  among 
them,  had  been  getting  harder  and 
harder.  I  moved,  and  groaned  invol 
untarily,  and  sat  up — and  rubbed  my 
eyes.  There  was  the  white  schooner 
lying  quietly  at  anchor,  her  sails 
all  furled  and  covered,  and  no  move 
ment  on  her  decks.  She  lay  so  still 
that  she  seemed  immovable ;  as  firm 
ly  fixed  as  the  breakwater  itself,  or 
as  the  Long  Stone,  or  as  one  of  the 
distant  islands,  which  swam  high  in  a 
bluish  haze  and  flickered  in  mirage. 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE        95 

I  got  up  slowly,  and  heard  a  noise 
of  a  rolling  pebble;  and  I  turned,  and 
there  was  Eve  coming  along  the  shore. 
I  went  to  meet  her,  and  we  came  back 
and  sat  upon  the  bank.  And  Eve 
looked  up  at  me  and  smiled,  and  her 
hand  went  out  slowly,  and  mine  met 
it,  and  we  put  our  clasped  hands 
down  between  us. 

"Now  they  can't  see,"  said  Eve. 
"Can  they?" 

I  smiled  and  shook  my  head. 

"And  it  wouldn't  make  any  dif 
ference,"  Eve  pursued,  "if  they  could. 
Would  it?  Say  quickly,  Adam,"  she 
cried,  shaking  our  clasped  hands  in 
mid  air.  "You  are  too  slow.  Would 
it?" 

"No,  Eve,"  I  answered,  smiling 
again.  Indeed  I  had  not  stopped 
smiling.  "  But  we  might  excite  envy 


g6  THE   CLAMMER 

in  their  breasts,  which  is  a  sin  we  pray 
to  be  delivered  from." 

"Oh,  well,"  she  said,  "there  is  no 
body  to  see  but  Captain  Fergus,  and 
he  has  not  been  married  long.  I  love 
this  place,  Adam.  Do  you  remember 
—  here  were  your  pebbles,  in  the  sod 
just  here.  And  here  I  sat  when  you 
warned  me  not  to  spot  my  dress,  — 
when  I  took  you  for  a  fisherman,  — 
and  you  took  me  for  a  governess." 
"  Did  you  think  I  could  forget?  " 
And  we  fell  silent,  and  presently 
Eve  would  have  me  row  her  out 
upon  the  water,  for  it  was  as  warm 
as  summer.  And,  that  pleasing  me, — 
although  it  would  have  been  enough 
for  me  that  I  was  pleasing  Eve, — 
we  wandered  to  Old  Goodwin's  stone 
pier,  and  took  one  of  his  boats,  and 
rowed  out.  And  I  paddled  about, 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE        97 

having  nowhere  in  particular  to  go, 
and  we  found  ourselves  near  the  great 
white  schooner,  almost  under  her 
stern;  and  I  looked  up,  and  read  her 
name,  Arcadia,  and  there  was  Cap 
tain  Fergus,  in  his  faded  old  blue 
cap,  looking  down  at  us  over  the  rail. 
His  face  was  bronzed  by  sun  and 
wind  and  rain,  and  there  were  little 
wrinkles  about  his  eyes  after  the 
manner  of  your  seafaring  men,  and 
his  eyes  were  of  a  deep  blue  —  the 
blue  of  the  deep  sea.  They  made 
me  think  of  Old  Goodwin's  eyes,  al 
though  Old  Goodwin's  eyes  are  not 
blue. 

He  touched  his  cap.  "Won't  you 
come  aboard?"  he  asked  in  a  deep 
voice  which  made  one  think  of  rolling 
seas  and  fresh  winds  and  bellying 
sails. 


g8  THE  CLAMMER 

"Thank  you."  I  hesitated,  and 
looked  at  Eve,  but  she  did  not  wait 
for  me. 

"We  shall  be  glad  to,"  she  said. 
And  she  turned  to  me.  "Hurry, 
Adam,  and  row  around  to  the  lad 
der." 

So  I  got  us  around  to  the  steps, 
and  there  was  a  sailor  with  a  boat- 
hook  to  hold  the  boat  for  us  and  to 
take  charge  of  it,  and  Captain  Fergus 
waiting  at  the  gangway.  And  I  in 
troduced  myself,  but  Eve  did  not 
wait  for  introductions,  but  smiled  at 
him,  and  said  that  she  thought  he 
knew  her  father. 

The  wrinkles  about  Captain  Fer 
gus's  pleasant  eyes  deepened. 

"You  are  very  like  him,"  he  said. 
And  he  led  us  over  to  the  port  side, 
toward  some  chairs  from  one  of  which 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE        99 

had  risen  a  slender  woman,  with  a 
pleasant  face  and  hair  beginning  to 
be  well  streaked  with  gray,  but  not 
many  years  older  than  Eve.  Mrs. 
Fergus,  I  found,  had  been  Marian 
Wafer;  had  been  Miss  Wafer  for  so 
long  that  she  had  become  confirmed 
in  the  habit  of  spinsterhood,  and  did 
not  find  it  easy  to  get  out  of  that 
habit  now  that  she  was  married. 

We  settled  ourselves  in  the  chairs, 
and  had  some  pleasant,  desultory 
talk;  and  the  sun  shone,  not  too 
brightly,  through  a  bluish  haze ;  there 
was  hardly  a  breath  of  wind  to  ruffle 
the  calm  surface  of  the  bay,  and  peace 
was  on  the  face  of  the  waters.  The 
stillness  almost  seemed  to  drowse  and 
to  make  a  soft  noise,  like  the  dis 
tant  sound  of  locusts  in  August.  It 
soothed  us,  and  the  talk  died,  and  we 


ioo  THE   CLAMMER 

sat  motionless  and  in  silence,  gazing 
out  at  the  distant  islands  in  their 
misty  blue  veils,  or  at  two  tiny  sails, 
motionless  too,  two  or  three  miles 
away,  or,  nearer  yet,  at  an  empty  ex 
panse  of  glassy  water. 

Suddenly  a  cat's-paw  swept  over 
the  surface  like  a  breath  over  a  mirror, 
and  the  shining  launch  of  the  Arca 
dia  shot  out  from  Old  Goodwin's 
landing,  and  came  toward  us  at  great 
speed ;  not  at  forty  miles  an  hour,  for 
the  landing  was  not  far  off.  She  was 
towing  an  aquaplane,  which  stood 
very  nearly  perpendicular  in  the  wa 
ter,  and  I  saw  one  man  standing 
up  and  steering,  and  the  heads  of 
three  or  four  people  showing  occa 
sionally  above  the  deck.  The  launch 
itself  was  at  a  pretty  angle,  with  day 
light  showing  under  ten  feet  of  her 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE       101 

keel,  and  throwing  cataracts  out  from 
either  side  like  a  fire  engine;  and  she 
hid  her  passengers  until  she  swerved. 
She  was  not  bringing  her  passengers 
aboard  the  Arcadia,  for  she  slackened 
speed  and  curved  prettily,  and  drifted 
before  us,  almost  within  reach,  and  I 
saw  that  the  people  aboard  of  her, 
besides  an  officer  and  a  sailor,  were 
Old  Goodwin  and  Elizabeth  Radnor 
and  another  girl,  a  stranger.  Miss 
Radnor  and  the  stranger  were  clad  in 
bathing-suits. 

Eve  did  not  seem  as  much  sur 
prised  as  I  should  have  expected,  and 
she  smiled  and  spoke  to  her  father 
and  Miss  Radnor,  and  he  waved  his 
hand;  and  the  strange  girl  arose, 
stood  poised  for  a  moment  on  the 
rail,  tossed  her  arms  high  above  her 
head,  dived  overboard  and  struck  out 


102  THE   CLAMMER 

for  the  aquaplane.  Miss  Radnor  in 
stantly  arose  and  followed,  without 
bothering  to  poise,  and  they  had  a 
race  for  it.  The  strange  girl  swam 
well,  but  Miss  Radnor  had  more 
power,  and  she  gained. 

Captain  Fergus's  great  voice  rang 
out.  "Go  it,  Olivia!  You're  almost 
there.  Once  more  and  more  power  to 
you!" 

And  Olivia  spurted,  but  got  to 
laughing  and  lost  a  stroke ;  and  Eliza 
beth  Radnor  caught  her,  but  she  got 
to  laughing  too,  so  that  both  seized 
their  goal  at  the  same  instant.  They 
drew  themselves  partly  upon  it,  but 
the  aquaplane  sank  under  their 
weight,  and  the  water  swirled  about 
their  knees,  for  the  launch  was  barely 
moving.  But  it  began  to  surge  ahead, 
faster  and  faster,  so  that  the  two  girls 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE      103 

found  a  firm  support  beneath  their  feet 
as  they  rose  carefully.  Olivia  held  two 
ropes  fastened  at  the  forward  cor 
ners,  and  Miss  Radnor  steadied  her 
self  behind,  with  a  hand  on  Olivia. 

The  launch  twisted  and  turned, 
and  made  loops  and  circles  and  spirals, 
and  Olivia  still  stood  straight,  like  a 
Greek  charioteer,  holding  the  lines 
with  hands  and  rigid  arms  that  were 
beginning  to  ache;  but  Miss  Rad 
nor's  knees  were  bending  more  and 
more,  and  she  was  swaying.  And  she 
laughed. 

"Good-bye,  Olivia,"  she  said;  and 
she  dived  side  wise,  and  came  up 
again,  and  was  swimming  easily. 

The  launch  stood  in  nearer  to  the 
schooner,  and  Olivia  staggered  as 
they  turned;  but  she  got  her  balance, 
and  once  more  stood  straight.  And 


104  THE    CLAMMER 

the  launch  began  to  twist  and  double 
and  turn  in  loops  and  circles,  faster 
and  faster.  Olivia  stood  upright  for 
two  or  three  turns,  then  she  began  to 
sway ;  and  she  saw  that  it  was  the  be 
ginning  of  the  end,  and  she  stooped 
quickly,  and  swung  her  arms  low, 
then  high  above  her  head,  and  she 
gave  a  spring  backward,  and  turned 
a  half-somersault — and  a  little  more. 

"Good!"  cried  Captain  Fergus. 
"A  pretty  backward  dive!  Olivia's  a 
good  swimmer  —  capital.  Almost  as 
good  as  Elizabeth."  He  turned  to  us. 
"Just  wait  until  you  see  Elizabeth  do 
some  of  her  stunts.  Have  you  ever 
seen  her?" 

I  smiled  and  shook  my  head .  ' '  M  iss 
Radnor  seems  an  extremely  compe 
tent  person  —  in  many  ways." 

Captain  Fergus  looked  sharply  at 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE       105 

me  for  an  instant,  then  he  chuckled 
as  though  there  was  a  good  joke  some 
where  within  hail. 

"So  she  is,"  he  said; " so  she  is,  very 
competent.  She's  an  able  seaman. 
Elizabeth 's  a  great  favorite  of  mine, 
rather  more  of  a  favorite  than — " 

"Dick!"  said  Mrs.  Fergus  warn- 
ingly. 

"Eh?"  He  turned  to  Mrs.  Fergus, 
and  smiled  the  smile  that  crinkled 
all  about  his  pleasant  eyes.  His  eyes 
smiled  too,  those  eyes  of  deepest  blue. 
"  I  was  n't  going  to  say  anything  im 
prudent,  Marian,  only  that  Elizabeth 
is  rather  more  of  a  favorite  than  some 
others  that  I  could  name.  Oh,  I'm 
not  going  to  call  any  names,  Marian. 
You  needn't  be  scared.  Marian's 
always  afraid,"  he  said  to  Eve  and 
me,  "that  I'm  going  to  be  indiscreet, 


io6  THE    CLAMMER 

and  I  Ve  never  in  my  life  been  indis 
creet.  Have  I,  Marian?" 

Mrs.  Fergus  laughed.  "Howshould 
I  know?  I  've  no  doubt  that  you  have 
been,  many  times.  You  are  n't  poli 
tic,  Dick." 

"Heaven  save  us!"  said  Captain 
Fergus  under  his  breath.  "I  hope 
not.  Neither  are  you,  Marian.  I 
don't  know  of  anybody  less  politic 
than  you." 

Mrs.  Fergus  laughed  again,  mer 
rily.  "Richard  was  a  sailor  for  so 
many  years,"  she  said,  "that  he  can't 
get  out  of  his  sailor's  ways." 

"They  are  good  ways,"  I  said. 
"Don't  you  think  so,  Mrs.  Fergus?" 

"They  are  good  ways,"  Mrs.  Fer 
gus  repeated,  looking  at  her  husband, 
"and  I  like  them."  And  Eve  smiled 
across  at  me. 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE       107 

The  launch  had  stopped,her  engine, 
and  was  waiting  for  the  two  girls. 
Elizabeth  Radnor  reached  her  first, 
a  white  arm  shot  out  of  the  water  and 
the  hand  grasped  the  gunwale,  and 
Old  Goodwin  helped  her  aboard,  and 
she  stood  on  the  deck  and  dripped. 
And  Olivia  came  up  on  the  other  side, 
and  Old  Goodwin  helped  her  aboard, 
but  she  did  not  stand  on  the  deck  to 
drip.  She  jumped  into  the  cockpit, 
and  dripped  on  the  cushions. 

"There!"  Mrs.  Fergus  exclaimed. 
"  If  that  is  n't  just  like  her  to  run 
streams  of  water  on  the  cushions. 
Why  could  n't  she  do  as  Elizabeth 
does,  and  — " 

"  Doesn't  matter,"  Captain  Fergus 
growled.  "Cushions  waterproof,  and 
the  sun  '11  dry  the  top  in  five  minutes." 

Mrs.  Fergus  made  a  motion  of  im- 


io8  THE    CLAMMER 

patience,  and  there  was  a  slight  com 
pression  of  her  lips. 

"  I  know  that  it  does  n't  really 
matter,"  she  said,  "a little  thing  like 
wetting  the  cushions  —  when  they 
could  have  been  kept  dry  just  as 
easily.  Elizabeth  —  " 

"  It  really  is  n't  any  matter  about 
the  cushions,"  Captain  Fergus  in 
terrupted  gently.  "Big  crew  doing 
nothing  —  they'll  be  set  to  work 
presently  scrubbing  the  launch  in 
side  and  out.  What's  a  little  water? 
Does  n't  hurt  anything." 

Mrs.  Fergus  laughed  softly.  "You 
'd  let  them  do  anything,  Dick,  — stick 
pins  into  you  - 

"  If  it  would  be  any  fun  for  them," 
said  Captain  Fergus  gruffly,  "  I  guess 
I  could  stand  it.  What's  a  pin  any 
way?" 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE      109 

Mrs.  Fergus  laughed  again.  "You 
'd  find  out.  But  I  was  really  thinking 
of  the  difference  in  the  girls.  Eliza 
beth  is  naturally  considerate,  Olivia 
is  not.  Olivia  is  a  good  swimmer,  of 
course,  and  she  is  pretty  and  sweet 
and  attractive,  but  she  has  done  some 
outrageous  things  in  the  last  three 
years.  Nothing  bad,  but  absolutely 
inconsiderate."  She  was  talking  to  us 
now  more  than  to  her  husband.  "She 
swims  so  well  that  she  jumps  in  — 
or  she  used  to  —  whenever  she  feels 
like  it,  clothes  and  all.  Why,  she 
even  took  her  mother's  parasol  in 
with  her  one  day.  It  ruined  the  para 
sol,  of  course.  She  was  all  dressed  up 
for  a  party,  and  had  on  a  lovely  dress, 
with  a  beautiful  old  ribbon  sash, 
which  was  spoiled.  Luckily  her  dress 
was  a  wash  dress,  but  it  had  to  be 


no  THE   CLAMMER 

done  up  again,  and  the  Greshams 
had  no  money  to  waste."  She  broke 
out  in  sudden  laughter.  "But  it  was 
funny,  Dick,  to  see  her  swimming 
about,  holding  the  parasol.  Do  you 
remember?  At  sixteen  Olivia  Gres- 
ham  was  just  a  pirate,  and  she  is 
more  or  less  of  one  at  eighteen.  Look 
at  Jack  Ogilvie  and  the  way  she 
treats  him,  and  he  as  nice  a  boy  as 
ever  lived." 

"You  may  look  at  Jack  Ogilvie 
now,"  said  Captain  Fergus  quietly, 
"  if  you  will  raise  your  eyes.  There  he 
comes." 

Accordingly  we  raised  our  eyes,  all 
of  us,  and  we  saw  nothing  but  those 
two  tiny  sails  that  I  have  mentioned, 
almost  in  the  same  place  in  which 
they  had  been  for  the  last  half  hour; 
and  a  motor-boat,  almost  hidden  in 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE       in 

the  haze  and  very  difficult  to  make 
out,  seeming  to  be  soaring  over  the 
tops  of  the  waves  toward  us.  It  must 
have  been  five  miles  away. 

"But,  Dick,"  said  Mrs.  Fergus, 
"where  is  Jack?  Is  he  — " 

"  In  that  motor-boat.  Don't  you 
see  it?  Head  on." 

He  whistled  shrilly.  The  launch 
had  been  lying  idly  before  us,  her 
engine  stopped,  and  Miss  Radnor  sat 
upon  the  deck  with  her  feet  dangling 
over  the  side.  At  the  whistle  she 
glanced  down  the  bay,  then  looked 
around  at  us  and  waved  her  hand. 
Then  she  simply  straightened  out  and 
slipped  into  the  water  feet  first,  and 
disappeared. 

"Captain  Fergus,"  asked  Eve, 
"how  can  you  possibly  tell  who  is  in 
that  boat?  I  can  hardly  see  the  boat." 


112  THE   CLAMMER 

He  laughed.  "  I  can't  tell,"  he  said, 
"  of  course,  because  I  can't  see  any  of 
her  crew;  but  I  know  the  boat,  and 
Ogilvie  should  be  in  it." 

"But  how  can  you  know  the  boat? 
One  motor-boat  looks  much  like  an 
other  at  that  distance  —  to  me." 

"  I  don't  know  how,  but  I  know  the 
boat.  How  do  you  know  your  friends 
as  far  off  as  you  can  see  them?" 

And  Eve  laughed,  and  she  went  on 
marvelling.  But  Miss  Radnor,  who 
had  disappeared  so  quietly,  had  not 
reappeared,  and  Mrs.  Fergus  seemed 
to  be  getting  anxious.  She  looked  at 
her  husband. 

"Dick,"  she  began,  "I  wish  Eliza 
beth  would  n't  stay  under  so  long. 
Where—" 

At  that  moment  a  red  cap  bobbed 
up  on  the  surface  of  the  glassy  water 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE      113 

almost  at  the  side  of  the  yacht,  and 
Miss  Radnor  laughed  up  at  us.  She 
swam  to  a  boat  swinging  at  the  boom, 
climbed  in  and  up  the  little  rope  lad 
der  to  the  boom,  and  so  on  deck. 

"Sorry,"  she  called,  "to  drip  on 
your  deck,  but  I  want  to  dive." 

And  she  went  up  the  rigging  as  far 
as  she  could  go,  which  was  not  far  — 
was  not  far  enough,  it  seemed. 

"You  should  have  the  mainsail 
up,"  she  said.  "  I  could  go  up  on  the 
rings.  It  is  such  a  disappointment!  I 
wanted  to  try  it  from  the  spreaders." 

"  I  '11  send  you  up  in  a  sling."  And 
forthwith  two  sailors  came  running, 
and  unhooked  a  halliard  from  some 
where,  and  got  out  a  boatswain's 
chair,  and  hooked  it  on,  and  she  put 
her  legs  through,  and  they  hoisted  her 
up  to  the  spreaders.  She  looked  very 


H4  THE   CLAMMER 

small  up  there,  as  she  held  on  to  the 
spreader,  and  gingerly  got  herself  out 
of  the  chair,  and  stood  up,  holding 
by  the  stay.  And,  still  holding  on 
carefully,  she  pulled  on  the  halliard 
with  her  free  hand,  until  the  boat 
swain's  chair  was  far  enough  down 
again  to  go  down  of  its  own  weight. 
Then  she  edged  out  to  the  end  of  the 
spreader,  and  got  her  feet  clear  of  the 
stay,  though  how  she  did  it  I  could 
not  imagine,  holding  on  to  the  stay 
behind  her  back.  But  she  did  it,  and 
I  could  see  her  moving  her  feet  ever 
so  slightly,  to  get  the  right  grip.  Then, 
suddenly  she  let  go,  and  swung  her 
arms  up  slowly,  and  shot  outward  in 
a  beautiful  swan  dive  that  rivalled 
Annette  Kellerman  at  her  best;  and 
she  struck  the  water  as  straight  as  a 
pikestaff.  There  was  not  much  spray 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE       115 

when  she  struck.  It  reminded  me  of 
scaling  stones  in  the  way  we  used  to 
call  "  cutting  the  devil's  throat."  Her 
slender  body  entered  the  water  with 
much  the  same  kind  of  a  noise. 

There  was  nothing  shallow  about 
that  dive,  for  she  did  not  come  up  for 
a  long  time.  At  last  I  saw  a  shadow 
in  the  water  shooting  slowly  toward 
the  launch,  and  the  red  cap  came 
floating  to  the  surface  as  if  it  were 
only  a  red  rubber  balloon;  and  a  white 
arm  shot  out,  and  the  hand  grasped 
the  gunwale,  and  again  Old  Good 
win  helped  her  aboard,  and  she  sat  on 
the  deck  and  dabbled  her  feet  in  the 
water,  as  she  had  before,  but  this 
time  she  sat  beside  Olivia.  And  Jack 
Ogilvie  —  if  it  was  he — in  his  motor- 
boat  was  almost  in.  I  could  see  the 
crew  of  the  boat  pretty  well,  and 


n6  THE   CLAMMER 

there  was  none  among  them  who 
looked  like  Ogilvie,  except  the  one 
in  an  ensign's  uniform,  and  Ogilvie 
was  not  an  ensign.  Then  the  boat  was 
abreast  of  the  launch,  and  Elizabeth 
Radnor  turned  her  head,  and  waved 
and  called,  and  beckoned. 

"Hello,  Elizabeth!"  the  ensign 
called  in  return,  and  the  boat  be 
gan  to  turn.  "Sorry  I  was  n't  nearer 
to  see  your  dive,  but  I  saw  it  pretty 
well.  You  could  n't  repeat  it  for  my 
benefit,  I  suppose?" 

Elizabeth  laughed  and  shook  her 
head.  "Not  to-day,  Jack." 

So  Ogilvie  was  an  ensign.  Eve  had 
noted  that  too. 

"He  must  be  twenty-one,  Adam," 
she  whispered,  "  and  he  must  have  had 
a  birthday.  I  wish  we  had  known  it. 
I  would  have  had  a  party  for  him." 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE       117 

"Is  it  too  late?"  I  asked. 

"I'll  see  about  it,"  she  answered, 
smiling.  Eve  likes  Ogilvie. 

But  the  motor-boat  had  stopped 
not  far  from  the  launch.  They  were 
near  enough  for  us  to  hear  pretty 
well  over  that  quiet  water.  Ogilvie's 
crew  tried  not  to  show  undue  inter 
est. 

"  Hello,  Olivia,"  said  Ogilvie,  stand 
ing  very  straight.  He  looked  jrather 
wistful,  I  thought. 

"Hello,"  she  said,  neither  turning 
her  head  nor  lifting  her  eyes.  It  was 
the  essence  of  indifference.  "What 
are  you  doing  here?" 

It  was  more  than  indifference.  It 
was  as  if  Ogilvie  bored  her.  My  gorge 
began  to  rise,  and  my  color  rose  a 
little,  I  am  afraid,  and  I  moved  my 
chair,  so  that  Eve  looked  over  at  me. 


n8  THE    CLAMMER 

I  felt,  I  suppose,  much  as  Captain 
Fergus  did,  when  he  said  that  Eliza 
beth  was  more  of  a  favorite  of  his 
than  some  others. 

Ogilvie  seemed  to  be  familiar  with 
that  attitude  of  Olivia's,  for  he  smiled 
faintly,  and  stepped  back. 

"Nothing  much,"  he  said;  "just 
cruising  —  cursing  about  the  bay. 
Like  Captain  Cook,  who  went  curs 
ing  about  the  Pacific  Ocean.  That's 
what  you  said  in  school,  Olivia.  Re 
member?" 

"If  I  don't,"  Olivia  flung  back 
petulantly,  "it  is  n't  because  I  have 
n't  been  reminded  of  it." 

Elizabeth  raised  her  head  and  sent 
forth  a  merry  peal  of  laughter. 

"Oh,  Olivia,  did  you  really?  When 
was  it?  Oh,  that's  too  good  to  keep." 

Olivia  was  picking  at  the  deck  of 


AND  THE    SUBMARINE       119 

the  launch.  There  may  have  been  a 
speck  of  dust  there. 

"I  suppose  I  did.  It  was  when  I 
was  very  small,  and  the  teacher  asked 
me  what  Captain  Cook  did,  and 
'  cruise '  looked  like  '  curse '  to  me.  But 
if  you  ever  tell,  Elizabeth,"  she  flared 
out,  "I'll  never  forgive  you." 

Once  more  Elizabeth's  laughter 
rang  out. 

" Oh,  Olivia!  It  won't  be  necessary 
for  me  to  tell,  but  I  'd  almost  be  will 
ing  to  be  never  forgiven."  Then  she 
heard  Ogilvie  give  orders  to  start. 
"  Wait,  Jack.  I  can't  do  my  dive  over 
again,  but  Olivia  and  I  will  show 
you  some  aquaplaning.  Won't  we, 
Olivia?" 

Olivia  shook  her  head.  "I  don't 
believe  I  want  to." 

"Very  well,  then.    I'll  do  it  all  by 


120  THE    CLAMMER 

myself.  I  see  you've  got  it,  Jack. 
Congratulations ! " 

At  that  Olivia  looked  up.  "Got 
what?  Oh,  a  new  uniform.  Captain 
Ogilvie,  I  suppose." 

But  Elizabeth  had  slid  into  the 
water,  and  Olivia  slid  in  from  the 
other  side  of  the  launch,  and  Ogilvie 
waited,  but  the  launch  did  not.  Eliza 
beth  was  swimming  under  water,  as 
seemed  to  be  her  habit,  and  the  launch 
had  quite  a  little  way  on  before  the 
red  cap  emerged.  She  had  heard  it, 
of  course,  and  had  calculated  very 
nicely,  and  came  to  the  surface  just 
as  the  aquaplane  was  going  by;  and 
she  seized  it  and  swung  herself  upon 
it,  and  landed  standing  on  her  feet. 
It  was  like  the  centre  ring  in  a  circus; 
and  it  made  me  think  more  and  more 
of  that  centre  ring,  and  of  great  white 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       121 

horses  cantering  around  it,  as  Eliza 
beth  went  through  the  most  extraor 
dinary  feats  of  agility  and  skill,  div 
ing  off  and  jumping  on  again  as  it 
seemed  with  but  a  quirk  of  her  wrist, 
making  the  aquaplane  do  the  work 
for  her.  And  to  end  the  exhibition  the 
launch,  which  had  been  doing  a  mod 
est  ten  miles  an  hour,  went  up  to 
twenty-five,  and  the  aquaplane  stood 
nearly  straight,  and  bounced  around, 
with  sudden  sidewise  jumps  and 
swerves  and  jerks.  It  was  no  longer 
the  great  white  horse  cantering 
around  the  ring,  but  a  balky,  buck 
ing  horse  that  gave  Elizabeth  some 
trouble.  I  could  see  how  carefully  she 
was  balancing  with  bent  knees  that 
gave  to  every  jump,  and  brought  it 
back  again.  But  when  the  launch  be 
gan  to  twist  and  turn  and  loop  she 


122  THE  CLAMMER 

could  not  keep  her  balance  for  very 
long.  She  knew  she  could  not,  and  be 
fore  she  had  more  than  begun  to  lose 
it  she  laughed  aloud,  and  she  gave  a 
spring  straight  up,  and  turned  back 
ward  in  the  air,  and  entered  the  water 
behind  the  aquaplane,  straight  and 
true.  As  a  backward  dive  it  surpassed 
Olivia's  as  you  would  expect  the  fin 
ished  performance  of  a  professional 
acrobat  to  surpass  the  best  attempts 
of  an  amateur. 

In  watching  Elizabeth's  perform 
ance  I  had  entirely  forgotten  Olivia, 
and  so  had  all  the  others,  unless 
Ogilvie  had  not.  I  cannot  speak  for 
him.  If  he  had  forgotten  he  was 
quickly  to  be  reminded,  for  suddenly 
about  half  a  bucket  of  water  shot 
up  and  drenched  his  cap  and  his  new 
uniform. 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       123 

He  smiled  quietly,  and  bent  for 
ward  and  looked  into  the  mocking 
eyes  of  Olivia. 

"Thank  you,  Olivia,"  he  said,  the 
water  dripping  from  his  cap  and  his 
coat.  "Was  that  intended  as  a  chris 
tening?" 

Olivia  made  no  reply,  but  turned 
and  swam  to  the  launch.  Elizabeth 
was  climbing  aboard,  and  sat  in  her 
old  place  on  the  deck,  her  feet  dan 
gling. 

"Was  it  a  good  show,  Jack?" 

"It  was  worthy  of  you,  Elizabeth. 
I  can't  give  any  higher  praise.  Thank 
you  very  much.  You  have  given  me 
a  great  deal  of  pleasure.  You  are  al 
ways  giving  other  people  pleasure. 
Good-bye." 

And  he  waved  his  hand  to  the 
launch  and  then  to  us,  and  his  motor- 


124  THE   CLAMMER 

boat  went  on  her  business  up  the  har 
bor,  whatever  that  business  was. 

Captain  Fergus  looked  after  him 
thoughtfully. 

"Now,  I  wonder,"  he  remarked, 
"why  he  didn't  come  aboard.  He 
ought  to  want  to  see  me." 

I  had  got  up  with  him,  and  we  were 
standing  at  the  gangway.  The  launch 
came  nosing  around,  with  the  two 
girls  enveloped  in  raincoats.  Olivia 
had  recovered  her  spirits.  She  stood 
up,  and  saluted  with  a  stiff  finger. 

"Here's  a  load  of  lumber  for  you, 
Captain  Fergus,"  she  said.  "Will 
you  have  it  aboard?  Where  will  you 
have  it  stowed?" 

Captain  Fergus  looked  grimly  at 
her,  and  shook  his  head  slowly,  but 
his  eyes,  looking  out  from  the  shadow 
of  the  shiny  visor  of  his  old  blue 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       125 

cap,  were  pleasant  and  smiling  and 
humorous.  The  little  wrinkles  about 
them  deepened. 

"Don't  you  know  better,"  he 
growled  sternly,  "than  to  bring  me 
wet  lumber?  I  can't  take  it.  You'll 
have  to  take  it  ashore  and  dry  it." 

"Aye,  aye,  sir,"  said  Olivia;  and 
she  sat  down,  and  I  regret  to  say  that 
she  giggled. 

I  had  gone  down  the  steps,  and  I 
was  regarding  a  red  rubber  cap  and 
a  dun-colored  raincoat.  The  red  cap 
was  pulled  well  down  over  the  ears, 
concealing  entirely  the  colors  of  Eve's 
great  beaver  muff.  I  spoke. 

"Miss  Radnor,"  I  said,  "what 
have  you  done  with  Bobby?" 

She  looked  up  quickly,  and  her 
eyes  met  mine  frankly.  They  —  hers, 
not  mine,  my  eyes  being  nothing  to 


126  THE    CLAMMER 

look  at,  only  to  see  with;  but  hers  — 
they  were  hazel,  I  should  guess,  and 
they  were  veiled  mischief  as  they 
looked  into  mine. 

"Bobby?"  she  asked.  "Mr.  Lev- 
erett?  Oh,  we  transferred  him  yes 
terday.  We  took  him  down  in  the 
Arcadia.  We'll  take  you  some  day 
soon." 

I  have  no  wish  to  be  transferred. 
But  I  do  not  wonder  that  Bobby  is 
much  taken  with  Elizabeth  Radnor. 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE      127 


V 

TILLING  the  soil,  if  the  man  who 
tills  be  working  alone,  tends 
to  reflection,  —  provided  that  man 
possesseth  wherewith  to  reflect,  — 
and  it  promotes  straight  and  simple 
thinking,  thoughts  which  may  be 
straight  and  true  or  they  may  not; 
but  the  thoughts  of  the  tiller  of  the 
soil  are  more  likely  to  be  straight  and 
true  than  the  thoughts  of  the  same 
man  riding  in  a  motor-car  or  working 
on  the  twenty-fifth  floor  of  an  office 
building.  If  such  a  man  be  the  presi 
dent  of  the  company  it  is  one  thing; 
he  may  be  puffed  up  with  the  pride 
of  a  little  brief  authority  or  he  may 
be  the  simple,  true  man  that  Old 
Goodwin  is.  His  sense  of  the  values 


128  THE  CLAMMER 

of  things  must  be  warped  and  dis 
torted  unless  he  tills  the  soil  at  times 
or  does  something  that  is  equivalent, 
like  sailing  the  deep  blue  oceans, 
where  there  is  so  very  little  between 
him  and  the  workings  of  nature;  and 
I  do  not  mean  sailing  as  a  passenger 
in  an  ocean  steamer  or  a  yacht,  in 
which  he  will  have  as  little  to  do  with 
the  workings  of  nature  as  he  would 
in  a  great  hotel. 

In  such  a  man  the  sense  of  values 
must  be  distorted  nearly  as  much, 
though  in  a  different  way,  as  that  of  a 
man  who  sits  at  one  of  an  intermin 
able  row  of  desks,  on  another  floor  of 
the  same  office  building,  from  eight- 
thirty  in  the  morning  until  five  in  the 
afternoon,  with  an  hour  for  luncheon ; 
and  knows  himself  to  be  but  a  cog  in 
a  huge  machine,  a  cog  which  can  and 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE       129 

will  be  replaced  as  soon  as  it  gives  a 
sign  of  running  unsmoothly.  What  a 
dreadful  thought  that  you  are  but  a 
cog  in  a  machine !  How  very  dreadful 
it  must  be  to  realize  that  you  are  grow 
ing  old  and  are  still  nothing  but  a  cog ! 
How  pregnant  of  rebellions,  little  fu 
tile  rebellions !  And  how  it  must  tear 
the  very  soul  of  that  man  to  know 
beforehand  that  his  rebellions  must 
be  little  and  futile!  I  can  understand 
that  a  man  in  that  state  would  wel 
come  death;  that  he  would  be  stood 
up  against  a  wall  and  shot  rather  than 
go  back  to  that  desk  of  the  intermin 
able  row  —  number  thirteen,  it  might 
be.  But  there  is  nobody  to  stand  him 
up  against  a  wall.  They  will  have 
none  of  him.  He  is  too  old.  Too  old  to 
be  shot,  although  he  may  have  fight 
ing  instincts  stirring  fiercely  within 


130  THE   CLAMMER 

him.  So  they  take  his  son,  it  may  be, 
and  he  goes  back  to  his  desk.  There 
is  no  escape  for  him.  They  will  not 
even  let  him  die  as  a  man  should  in 
these  times.  Life  is  a  series  of  disap 
pointments,  and  the  last  is  the  most 
bitter.  Hope  takes  herself  away  un 
til  he  can  hardly  see  her  through  the 
fog. 

I  was  thinking  such  thoughts  as 
these,  leaning  on  my  hoe.  I  had 
come  out  early  to  work  in  my  gar 
den,  and  I  would  start  the  planting 
of  a  row,  and  the  next  thing  I  knew 
I  would  find  myself  standing  —  or 
squatting,  in  accordance  with  my 
most  recent  activity — and  gazing  out 
over  the  waters  of  the  bay,  dream 
ing  and  musing  of  the  bitterness  of 
disappointment,  or  of  little  souls 
clothed  with  authority,  or  of  Old 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE      131 

Goodwin,  and  of  men  like  him  —  if 
there  are  such.  Old  Goodwin's  is  not 
a  little  soul.  The  first  time  that  I 
thought  on  such  things  and  lost  my 
self  in  thinking,  I  was  using  my  wheel 
hoe  on  the  ground  between  the  rows 
of  corn  and  peas  and  beans.  A  wheel 
hoe  is  not  a  thing  to  lean  on,  but  it 
fails  you  when  you  most  need  its  sup 
port,  and  gives  way  under  you  and 
brings  your  thoughts  to  earth  with  a 
thump  —  and  you  as  well,  if  you  are 
not  used  to  its  vagaries  and  careful. 
So  I  took  my  hand  hoe.  It  is  friendly 
and  will  bear  me  up. 

It  was  the  twenty-sixth  of  May, 
and  I  had  much  planting  to  do,  but 
I  did  not  do  it.  I  thought  upon  what 
had  happened  in  the  past  few  days, 
and  I  worked  my  wheel  hoe.  Wheel - 
hoeing  does  not  interfere  with  my 


132  THE   CLAMMER 

thinking.  I  believe  I  could  do  it  in 
my  sleep.  I  have  only  to  walk  along 
slowly,  and  to  work  my  arms  back 
and  forth  at  every  step,  and  unless 
the  ground  is  very  hard  I  can  think 
perfectly.  My  corn  showed  as  little 
yellowish-green  tubes  about  an  inch 
and  a  half  long,  just  poked  through  a 
couple  of  days  before,  it  was  so  cold 
early  in  the  month;  and  it  has  not 
come  up  well.  As  I  ran  the  hoe  along 
beside  the  row,  it  was  a  rank  of  sol 
diers  —  soldiers  of  the  first  line.  There 
were  great  gaps  in  the  line.  There 
have  been  many  gaps,  and  there  will 
be  many  more.  It  has  not  chanced 
to  hit  any  friends  of  mine  yet,  but  it 
will. 

Then  I  thought  upon  the  report  of 
ten  days  before,  that  seven  German 
submarines  had  been  destroyed  at 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE      133 

sea  on  their  way  over  here.  It  was 
gratifying  to  know  that  they  had 
been  destroyed,  but  the  report  was 
strangely  disquieting  to  me.  If  they 
had  sent  a  fleet  of  seven,  they  might 
send  as  many  more.  There  was  food 
for  thought  in  that.  I  had  seen  no 
further  mention  of  the  matter  in  the 
papers,  and  most  probably  the  report 
was  untrue,  but  it  set  me  thinking, 
and  I  wondered  whether  the  infor 
mation  would  not  be  considered  of 
value  to  the  enemy.  If  no  report  of 
their  destruction  had  been  published, 
Germany  might  not  have  known  of  it 
for  weeks.  Weeks  of  freedom  for  us 
knocked  in  the  head  by  the  newspa 
pers. 

And  I  was  through  with  the  corn, 
and  had  come  to  the  beans,  strange 
grotesque,  misshapen  things,  pushing 


134  THE   CLAMMER 

out  of  the  ground  like  toads.  Some  of 
them  were  not  through  yet,  but  were 
raising  great  clods  of  earth,  leaving 
holes  which  looked  for  all  the  world 
like  toad-holes.  There  were  two  that 
looked  like  sinking  ships.  And  I 
thought  upon  the  report  of  a  great 
naval  battle,  with  many  of  our  ships 
sunk.  I  do  not  believe  it.  In  fact,  I 
have  heard  vaguely  of  a  denial  by 
our  Navy  Department.  And  my  eye 
was  caught  by  a  flash  of  scarlet  near 
some  trees  by  my  wall,  and  there  was 
a  tanager.  I  stopped  my  hoeing  and 
stood  still  and  watched.  It  is  some 
years  since  I  have  seen  a  tanager.  He 
flew  about  in  little  short  flights,  aim 
lessly  it  seemed,  from  one  low  branch 
to  another,  then  upon  the  ground, 
then  back  to  a  tree  again,  paying  no 
attention  to  me  standing  like  a  scare- 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE      135 

crow  in  my  garden.  Then  he  perched 
high  and  sang  his  cheerful  song,  very 
like  a  robin's.  If  I  were  not  noticing 
nor  thinking  about  it,  I  might  think 
it  a  robin's  —  if  I  gave  it  a  thought.  I 
have  heard  that  tanagers  have  been 
seen  this  spring  in  places  where  they 
have  never  been  seen  before.  I  have 
never  seen  one  here,  and  I  hoped  this 
one  would  stay. 

And  then  that  talking  machine  of 
my  neighbor's  began  reciting  some 
thing  in  a  loud  voice-  "Cohen  at 
the  telephone"  or  some  such  thing  — 
and  my  tanager  flew  away,  and  I  went 
savagely  to  my  hoeing  again.  And  I 
thought  again  of  that  obsolescent 
man  who  is  too  old  to  be  shot,  but 
not  too  old  to  be  condemned  to  a  ball 
and  chain;  and  whose  son  they  have 
taken  while  they  have  scornfully  re- 


136  THE   CLAMMER 

jected  him.  And  he  would  fight  if 
they  would  let  him.  How  he  would 
fight!  For  there  is  nothing  left  for 
him  but  to  choose  the  best  death  he 
can  get.  He  may  not  be  free  even  to 
do  that.  The  father  of  Jack  Ogilvie 
may  be  just  such  a  man.  I  stopped 
again,  and  stood  holding  the  han 
dles  of  my  hoe  and  looking  off  to  sea, 
and  thought  of  Ogilvie  and  Bobby 
and  Jimmy  Wales  going  to  and  fro 
upon  the  waters  seeking  that  which 
is  not. 

I  grasped  my  hoe  handles  more 
tightly,  and  turned  my  head,  and 
looked  at  the  dirt  before  me,  and 
pushed  my  hoe  savagely.  What  care 
I  how  they  go  to  and  fro  upon  the 
waters?  I  wander  the  shores,  and  I 
dig  my  clams,  and  I  am  content.  But 
am  I?  And  as  I  had  got  to  this  point 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE      137 

in  my  meditations,  from  my  neigh 
bor's  window  came  the  rich  voice  of 
Harry  Lauder  singing  "Breakfast  in 
bed  on  Sunday  morning."  I  smiled 
to  myself  —  there  was  nobody  to  see 
me  if  I  chose  to  smile  at  an  absurdity 
—  and  my  hoe  went  more  and  more 
slowly,  for  there  was  no  power  behind 
it.  And  I  listened  shamelessly  to 
Harry  Lauder's  last  whisper  and  his 
last  mellow  laugh,  so  that  I  did  not 
hear  the  light  steps  behind  me;  but  I 
heard  the  voice  that  I  loved. 

"Adam!  Adam!"  said  the  voice, 
chiding.  "Listening  to  Harry  Lau 
der  —  and  enjoying  it !  Take  shame 
to  yourself." 

And  I  turned,  and  saw  Eve,  and 
Tidda  with  her.  Eve  was  smiling, 
and  I  smiled  back  at  her. 

"Surely,  Eve,"  I  said,  "a  man  may 


138  THE   CLAMMER 

rest  when  he  is  weary.  And  if  my 
neighbor  choose  to  have  a  talking 
machine  spouting  out  of  his  window, 
I  cannot  stop  him.  I  wish  I  could. 
Imagine  Judson  with  a  talking  ma 
chine!" 

"  I  can  imagine  it  very  easily.  The 
dear  old  man  would  have  enjoyed 
it,  I  am  sure.  And  if  it  gives  them 
pleasure,  Adam  —  why,  some  of  the 
things  give  you  pleasure.  You  need 
n't  try  to  deny  it." 

"I  don't,  Eve.  I  deny  nothing. 
But  some  of  the  things  are  — " 

Eve  nodded.  "Yes,"  she  said, 
"some  of  them  certainly  are.  But 
they  need  n't  bother  you  much." 

At  that  moment  we  heard  a  giggle 
from  somewhere  on  the  other  side  of 
the  wall,  and  something  came  whiz 
zing.  It  was  nothing  but  an  old  rotten 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE      139 

piece  of  wood,  and  it  fell  short,  but  it 
stirred  Tidda. 

"I'm  going  after  that  Sands  girl," 
she  cried.  "She  shan't  fire  old  pieces 
of  wood  at  us."  And  she  set  off  at 
top  speed  straight  for  the  wall.  Tidda 
is  not  becoming  obsolescent. 

I  would  have  stopped  her. 

"No,"  Eve  said.  "Let  her  go.  It 
can't  do  any  harm."  She  dismissed 
the  matter  from  her  mind.  "Tell  me, 
Adam,  what  made  you  so  savage  as 
we  were  coming  up.  What  were  you 
thinking  about?" 

I  laughed  rather  shamefacedly.  "It 
was  of  no  consequence,  Eve.  I  was 
thinking  that  life,  for  some  people,  is 
just  one  disappointment  after  an 
other."  I  must  remember  that  Eve 
has  pacifist  tendencies. 

Eve  looked  up  at  me  with  sober  eyes. 


140  THE   CLAMMER 

"Were  you  thinking  of  anything 
in  particular?" 

"Of  the  unimportant  men  in  a 
great  office  with  long  rows  of  desks 
and  endless  routine ;  especially  of  men 
who  are  growing  old  in  it  and  can 
see  no  escape.  I  was  thinking  of  the 
same  thing,  I  remember,  on  Wednes 
day,  down  on  the  shore.  It  was  a 
driving  drizzle  from  the  northeast, 
and  gray,  with  rolling  seas.  It  made 
the  round  of  an  office  seem  so  futile 
and  so  useless.  I  envied  Jimmy  and 
Bobby  and  Ogilvie,  off  on  patrol.  I 
would  have  liked  to  be  on  patrol  my 
self." 

"Would  you?"  asked  Eve.  There 
was  speculation  in  her  eyes  —  and 
something  else  that  I  had  seen  there 
before.  I  could  not  fathom  it.  "How 
many  of  the  men  in  the  office  —  the 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       141 

men  who  are  growing  old  —  would 
exchange  the  comforts  of  the  office  for 
a  driving  drizzle  out  of  the  northeast, 
and  gray  and  rolling  seas  —  and  a 
mo  tor- boat?  Not  one  in  ten." 

"  It  was  that  one  I  was  thinking  of." 

Eve  looked  away  from  me  and  nod 
ded  slowly. 

"Can't  you  leave  your  gardening? 
Come  and  sit  down." 

So  I  left  my  tools  in  the  field,  as  a 
poor  farmer  leaves  his  tools  where  he 
has  last  used  them  in  the  fall,  the 
plough  beside  the  furrow,  and  the 
mowing-machine  and  the  horserake 
at  the  edge  of  the  meadow;  and  in  the 
spring  he  is  sorrowful,  and  wonders 
and  bemoans  the  winter.  And  Eve 
took  my  hand  in  hers,  and  we  went 
to  my  great  pine  and  sat  us  down 
upon  the  bench.  And,  behind  us, 


142  THE   CLAMMER 

came  Tidda  over  the  wall,  dragging 
the  reluctant  Sands  girl,  who  giggled 
and  held  back;  and  they  sat  by  the 
hole  that  is  scooped  in  the  ground 
and  lined  with  great  stones,  for  they 
would  play  at  having  a  clambake. 
The  chatter  of  our  daughter's  tongue 
was  like  an  accompaniment;  and  no 
body  pays  any  attention  to  an  ac 
companiment. 

"Now,  Adam,"  said  Eve,  "for  the 
important  business.  You  know  we 
decided  that  Jack  Ogilvie  must  have 
had  a  birthday,  or  he  would  not  have 
got  his  commission.  I  have  been  mak 
ing  inquiries.  He  did ;  and  I  find  that 
everybody  can  come  next  Saturday, 
probably,  —  a  week  from  to-day." 

Eve  looked  thoughtful  and  counted 
up  on  her  fingers,  which  I  released  for 
the  purpose  —  "the  second  of  June. 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE       143 

Do  you  think,  Adam,"  she  went  on, 
' '  that  clams  will  be  ripe  on  the  sec 
ond  of  June?" 

I  laughed.  "We  can  see.  But 
many  things  will  be  lacking  which 
belong  to  a  clambake.  Do  you  want 
me  to  issue  a  call  to  the  Clam  Beds 
Protective  Company?" 

"Oh,  yes,  Adam.  How  will  it  run? 
To  assemble,  at  their  armory,  —  that 
is  the  bank  above  the  clam  beds,  —  in 
uniform,  with  arms  and  accoutre 
ments,  an  hour  before  low  tide.  When 
will  that  be?  But  never  mind.  And 
shall  I  tell  father?"  She  glanced  to 
ward  the  hole  scooped  in  the  ground. 
"He  will  be  glad  to  —  but  mercy  on 
us,  Adam,  where  is  Tidda?" 

She  sighed  and  started  to  her  feet. 
I  laughed,  and  pointed  along  the 
shore. 


144  THE   CLAMMER 

"Stole  away,"  I  said.  Tidda  and 
the  Sands  girl  were  picking  their  way 
among  the  great  pebbles  of  the  shore, 
Tidda  with  light  feet  skipping  from 
pebble  to  pebble,  the  Sands  girl  going 
more  cautiously  and  clumsily. 

Eve  sighed  again.  "We  may  as 
well  follow.  There  is  no  knowing 
what  they  will  be  up  to  next." 

So  I  rose  and  we  turned  to  follow, 
and  there  was  Elizabeth  Radnor  not 
ten  steps  away,  smiling  and  regarding 
us  with  friendly  eyes.  As  she  drew 
near  her  eyes  looked  gray-green,  not 
hazel,  calm  and  humorous  and  know 
ing.  Perhaps  they  are  of  the  change 
able  kind.  I  have  seen  changeable 
eyes  before.  I  would  like  to  know 
what  thoughts  lie  behind  those  eyes 
to  give  them  their  peculiar  light.  And 
at  a  guess  I  think  that  Bobby  would 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       145 

give  something  to  know.  But  they 
were  friendly  eyes,  and  they  gave  you 
a  look  that  was  straight  and  true. 

"Oh,  Elizabeth," --Eve  has  got 
that  far  with  her,  which  is  in  her 
favor.  I  have  never  yet  known  Eve 
to  be  deceived  in  people  —  "Oh, 
Elizabeth,  we  have  to  go  after  Tidda, 
just  along  the  shore.  Will  you  come? 
Tidda  leads  us  a  chase.  Her  spirit  of 
adventure  will  lead  her  into  trouble." 

Elizabeth  laughed.  We  were  de 
scending  the  steep  path  to  the  shore. 

"I'm  afraid  I  had  a  spirit  of  ad 
venture  as  great  as  Tidda's,"  she  said ; 
"fortunately  no  disaster  happened 
to  me,  although  I  must  have  been 
rather  a  trial  to  my  mother.  And  as 
to  going  into  the  water  when  I  should 
n't  —  why,  I  was  in  the  water  all  the 
time  —  whenever  I  could  get  in.  You 


146  THE   CLAMMER 

see  the  unhappy  result.  We  were 
poor,  you  know;  in  what  is  called 
straitened  circumstances.  My  father 
died  when  I  was  a  little  tot,  and  we 
never  had  a  maid  until  a  few  years 
ago.  You  go  on  in  your  own  way. 
It  is  pretty  sure  to  be  right." 

I  do  not  know  whether  Eve  thought 
Elizabeth  was  referring  to  the  path, 
but  she  turned  and  began  to  descend 
again. 

" I'm  glad  you  think  so," she  flung 
back  over  her  shoulder,  "but  I  am 
not  so  sure.  I  really  think  that  it 
would  be  better  for  Tidda  if  she  were 
left  more  to  her  own  devices  —  she 
has  plenty  —  but  I  just  can't  do  it." 

We  had  got  down  to  the  shore,  and 
Elizabeth  turned  to  me. 

"  I  am  always  saying  things,"  she 
said,  "that  I  don't  mean.  It  is  one 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       147 

of  the  results  of  too  much  free 
dom." 

"So  am  I,"  I  replied,  "and  this  is 
one  of  them." 

And  Elizabeth  looked  at  me  queer- 
ly,  and  laughed  suddenly,  and  looked 
away.  I  wondered  if  she  understood. 
I  wondered  further  about  her.  A  rep 
utation  for  unconsidered  speech  is 
the  best  of  protections  for  secrets.  I 
did  not  believe  that  she  was  gener 
ally  guilty  of  unconsidered  speech. 
And  we  had  come  to  the  clam  beds, 
but  the  bank  was  too  wet  to  sit  on, 
and  we  stood  around  until  I  found 
some  stones  that  were  dry,  and  we 
sat  on  the  stones  in  a  row,  like  three 
crows.  Eve  said  nothing  to  Tidda 
and  the  Sands  girl,  but  watched  them 
as  they  pulled  off  their  stockings. 
And,  Tidda  having  trouble  with  hers, 


148  THE    CLAMMER 

as  usual,  Eve  got  up  from  her  stone 
and  helped  her. 

While  Eve  was  busy  with  stock 
ings,  I  spoke. 

"Miss  Radnor,"  I  said,  "what  — " 

She  was  gazing  fixedly  at  the  water 
over  the  clam  beds  —  there  was  about 
a  foot  of  it  —  and  her  thoughts  were 
far  away.  But  at  the  sound  of  her 
name  she  started  almost  impercep 
tibly,  and  looked  at  me,  and  smiled. 

"My  name  is  Elizabeth,"  she  said, 
interrupting.  "Perhaps  you  didn't 
know  it.  Yes,  that  is  a  hint." 

Her  eyes  were  like  deep  pools  un 
der  a  summer  sun,  and  all  sorts  of 
colors  played  over  them,  flashing  and 
sparkling  gently  and  merrily,  so  that 
there  was  no  telling  what  depths  lay 
beneath,  or  what  in  the  depths — ex 
cept  humor.  They  seemed  to  be  look- 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       149 

ing  always  for  a  joke,  and  usually 
finding  one  too  good  to  tell.  What 
else  they  were  looking  for  I  did  not 
know,  but  there  was  something. 

"Thank  you,"  I  replied.  "I  take 
hints  on  occasion.  And  my  name  is 
Adam.  That  is  a  hint  too.  If  you  can 
reconcile  the  use  of  it  with  the  respect 
due  to  age,  —  to  a  man  too  old  to 
fight,  —  I  shall  be  glad.  It  is  a  very 
old  name  and  quite  respectable." 

She  nodded  and  laughed.  "Thank 
you,  Adam.  But  you  were  going  to 
ask  me  something." 

"  I  was  going  to  ask  you,  Elizabeth, 
if  you  know  what  has  become  of 
Bobby.  We  have  n't  seen  him  for  a 
long  time." 

The  pools  flashed  and  sparkled 
once  more.  "Why  do  you  ask  me? 
Am  I  Bobby's  keeper?" 


150  THE   CLAMMER 

"  You  seemed  to  be.  And  you  trans 
ferred  him,  and  we  have  n't  seen  him 
since." 

"Captain  Fergus  transferred  him. 
I  have  no  doubt  that  he  will  turn  up 
in  time." 

Eve  had  finished  with  the  stock 
ings,  and  she  came  and  sat  down  again 
upon  her  stone,  while  the  children 
splashed  noisily  into  that  foot  of 
water.  Tidda  had  a  stout  stick,  and 
she  began  immediately  to  poke  about 
with  it. 

"Who  will  turn  up  in  time?"  asked 
Eve.  ' '  What  are  you  talking  about  ? ' ' 

"Bobby,"  I  answered.  "I  wish  I 
could  share  Elizabeth's  faith.  I  must 
notify  Bobby." 

"I  think  you  will  have  an  oppor 
tunity,"  said  Elizabeth,  "if  you  have 
a  little  patience." 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       151 

"I  will  notify  you  meanwhile, 
Elizabeth.  The  Clam  Beds  Protec 
tive  Company  meets  here  next  Sat 
urday  at  nine  o'clock.  In  uniform, 
with  arms  and  equipment.  If  you 
lack  anything,  speak  to  Eve.  I'm 
sorry  to  make  it  quite  so  early,  but 
the  tide,  you  know  —  and  Eve  has 
set  the  day." 

"I'm  going  to  have  a  birthday 
party  for  Jack  Ogilvie,  Elizabeth. 
It's  a  little  late,  but  I  did  n't  know 
in  time,  and  Jimmy  and  Bobby  and 
Ogilvie  can  come  then,  I  think.  I 
wish  you'd  tell  me  something  more 
about  him." 

"About  Jack?  What  shall  I  tell 
you?  I've  known  him  always,  since 
he  was  knee-high  to  a  grasshopper. 
He's  as  good  as  there  is  made.  His 
family  are  nice  people,  with  a  very 


152  THE    CLAMMER 

moderate  income,  just  about  enough 
to  keep  them  going,  and  not  enough 
to  put  him  through  college,  although 
they  would  be  willing  to  sacrifice  a 
good  deal  to  do  it.  But  Jack  prefers 
to  put  himself  through,  and  he  was 
doing  it  very  well  until  he  went  into 
the  navy.  He  has  been  preparing  for 
that  for  a  year  or  more.  He  does  n't 
make  nearly  as  much  in  the  navy, 
even  as  an  ensign  — but  I  don't  know 
about  that.  I  guess  he  does.  An 
ensign's  pay  is  pretty  good  for  a  boy 
of  twenty-one." 

"And  his  father,"  Eve  pursued; 
"what  does  he  do?  Is  he  in  some 
great  office,  grinding  away  for  Jack?  " 

Elizabeth  smiled  again.  "No.  He 
is  a  country  doctor,  and  a  very  good 
one.  I  don't  know  what  the  town 
would  do  without  him.  But  a  coun- 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       153 

try  doctor,  you  know,  can't  make 
much." 

"I'm  glad,"  said  Eve. 

"Why?  Because  he  can't  make 
much?" 

Eve  laughed.  "Glad  that  he's  a 
doctor.  I  wish  I  could  manage  to 
swell  his  income." 

Tidda  and  the  Sands  girl  had  been 
pursuing  the  elusive  clam  with  some 
success.  Tidda's  hands  were  full  of 
clams  which  she  had  dug  out  with 
the  stick  and  her  hands,  burrowing 
into  the  sand  and  mud  under  the 
water,  and  her  skirt  was  wet,  and  her 
sleeves  were  wet  nearly  to  the  shoul 
der.  I  called  Eve's  attention  to  that 
fact  as  she  splashed  out,  ran  to  the 
bank,  and  deposited  her  clams  in  an 
old  rusty  tin  can  with  jagged  edges, 
which  she  drew  from  some  hiding 


154  THE    CLAMMER 

place  evidently  in  familiar  use.  She 
must  have  done  that  same  thing 
many  times,  and  this  was  the  first 
that  we  knew  of  it. 

Eve  glanced  up  and  smiled. 

"Never  mind,  Adam.  Let  them 
have  their  fun.  I'll  put  dry  clothes 
on  her  when  we  get  home."  Then 
she  turned  again  to  Elizabeth.  "And 
Olivia,"  she  said,  "is— " 

"  I  think,"  said  Elizabeth,  interrupt 
ing,  "that  Olivia  is  coming  now." 

As  she  spoke  there  was  a  slight  rus 
tling  in  the  path  through  the  green 
ery,  and  Olivia  emerged  upon  the 
edge  of  the  bank.  She  was  stepping 
lightly,  diffident  and  hesitating,  a 
hand  over  her  heart.  It  was  like  a 
young  doe  coming  out  of  the  woods. 

"Oh!"  she  said.  "I  beg  your  par 
don." 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       155 

And  Elizabeth  laughed  silently, 
mostly  with  her  eyes;  but  Eve  rose 
and  went  to  meet  Olivia. 

"What's  the  joke,  Elizabeth?"  I 
asked  in  her  ear.  "Tell  me,  won't 
you?" 

She  turned  merry  eyes  to  mine. 
"Olivia's  the  joke,"  she  said.  "I 
can't  explain,  but  if  you  knew  her  as 
well  as  I  do  — " 

She  did  not  finish,  for  Eve  was 
speaking. 

"We  were  just  thinking  of  you, 
Olivia." 

"How  very  nice  of  you!  May  I 
come?" 

She  advanced  —  still  with  that 
diffident  and  hesitating  step  like  a 
doe's.  I  got  up  and  offered  her  my 
stone. 

Olivia  looked  startled;  but  Olivia 


156  THE   CLAMMER 

had  a  way  of  looking  startled,  so  it 
seemed. 

"Oh,"  she  protested,  "oh,  I  don't 
want  to  take  your  seat." 

"Don't  feel  that  you  are  putting 
me  to  an  inconvenience,"  I  said. 
"That  stone  is  harder  than  it  was.  I 
am  sorry  that  we  can  offer  you  noth 
ing  better  than  a  stone,  but  it  is  all 
we  have." 

And  Olivia  laughed  politely,  and 
took  my  stone,  and  looked  about. 

"Clams!"  she  cried.  "I  have  dug 
clams." 

"Many?"  I  asked. 

Olivia  looked  up  at  me  and  laughed 
again.  "Oh,  a  good  many,"  she  re 
plied,  "in  all  sorts  of  places;  and 
baked  them  too." 

"A  recruit  for  our  company,"  I 
said,  looking  at  Elizabeth  and  Eve. 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE       157 

"Will  you  join  the  company?"  I 
asked  Olivia. 

"  I  shall  be  glad  to,"  she  answered. 
"  What  is  it?" 

And  Eve  laughed,  and  I  explained, 
and  Olivia  seemed  delighted.  But 
Elizabeth  was  more  amused  than 
ever. 

"What  is  it  now,  Elizabeth?" 

"Olivia  knows,"  said  she. 

"Elizabeth!"  Olivia  cried  from  her 
stone.  "  I  did  n't  either  come  for  — " 

She  stopped  suddenly,  her  hand 
over  her  mouth. 

"If  she  came  for  that  purpose, 
Elizabeth,"  I  said,  "she  is  to  be  com 
mended.  Do  you  think  that  Cap 
tain  Fergus  and  Mrs.  Fergus  would 
join?  Would  you  speak  to  them 
about  it?" 

And  Elizabeth  signified  that  she 


158  THE   CLAMMER 

would,  and  there  was  other  noise  in 
the  path  through  the  greenery,  a  noise 
which  was  something  more  than  a 
rustling,  and  Old  Goodwin  appeared, 
and  behind  him  came  Bobby.  When 
Bobby  appeared,  I  looked  hard  at 
Elizabeth,  but  I  could  detect  no  sign 
of  confusion.  She  is  so  sunburned  and 
tanned  that  a  flush  would  not  show 
anyway. 

''What  did  you  tell  me  about 
Bobby,  Elizabeth?" 

She  looked  up.  "  I  don't  remember. 
Nothing  that  was  n't  true." 

Her  eyes  were  filled  with  light,  but 
she  veiled  them  quickly,  and  Bobby 
wandered  over  to  us.  Old  Goodwin 
had  sat  him  down  on  the  bank,  and 
Tidda  had  put  into  his  hands  some 
more  clams  dripping  mud,  and  was 
asking  his  advice,  her  elbows  on  his 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       159 

knees;  and  he  listened  soberly  and 
with  interest. 

Eve  told  Bobby  of  the  meeting  of 
our  company  for  the  next  week  and 
the  party. 

He  turned  to  me.  "Doesn't  that 
notice  have  to  be  in  writing?"  he 
asked. 

I  shook  my  head.  "You'd  better 
accept  it.  The  whole  company  will 
turn  out.  It 's  to  be  a  party  for  Ogil- 
vie  —  birthday  party." 

And  Olivia  pricked  up  her  ears  at 
that,  and  listened  shamelessly  while 
Eve  told  Bobby  about  it. 

"That's  very  good  of  you,  Eve," 
he  said,  when  she  had  finished.  "  I  '11 
tell  Jimmy,  and  I  '11  get  word  to  Ogil- 
vie.  We  can  come  unless  something 
turns  up.  Something  may  turn  up, 
you  know,  at  any  minute.  We  never 


i6o  THE    CLAMMER 

know.  If  a  fleet  of  submarines  should 
get  over  here,  and  should  start  getting 
caught  in  our  traps  we'd  have  to  go." 

"Traps  all  set,  Bobby?"  I  asked. 

"Set  but  not  baited,"  he  replied. 
11 1  'm  looking  for  bait  now,  likely- 
looking  little  pigs,  Adam,  and  for 
somebody  to  feed  'em,  and  keep  'em 
squealing.  It  would  be  interesting 
work,  and  a  pleasant  sail  every  day. 
If  you  were  really  patriotic  you  'd  be 
glad  to  do  that  much  for  your  coun 
try.  But  you  won't.  I  see  it  in  your 
eye.  I'll  have  to  do  it  myself." 

And  he  heaved  a  prodigious  sigh, 
and  turned  to  Elizabeth  and  Olivia, 
and  he  began  to  talk  lightly  with 
them;  and  Olivia's  face  was  all  eag 
erness  and  light  and  gentleness.  She 
was  beautiful  so.  Bobby  noticed  it, 
and  smiled  at  her,  and  talked  to  her 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       161 

for  a  minute  or  so,  and  she  listened  in 
a  sort  of  silent  rapture,  which  Eliza 
beth  observed.  And  Bobby,  glancing 
at  Elizabeth,  saw  the  changing  light 
in  those  two  deep  pools,  and  saw  her 
half -smile  of  amusement,  and  forgot 
what  he  was  saying  to  Olivia,  and 
stopped. 

"You  know,  Miss  Radnor,"  he 
said,  forgetting  the  rest  of  us,  "I 
have  to  go  in  half  an  hour."  It  was 
a  sort  of  challenge. 

She  nodded,  still  smiling  that  half- 
smile  of  amusement.  "  I  know." 

"Well?" 

Thereupon  Eve  rose  quietly  from 
her  stone,  and  dragged  Olivia  up  from 
hers,  much  against  her  will,  and  they 
wandered  off  to  see  the  children  at 
their  clamming;  but  she  gave  me  a 
significant  look  as  she  went.  So  I 


162  THE   CLAMMER 

obediently  drifted  off  along  the  shore. 
I  was  sorry  to  go,  for  I  would  have 
liked  to  hear  what  followed.  And  I 
drifted  back  again,  and  to  and  fro, 
like  a  shadow,  but  always  Bobby  was 
talking  earnestly  to  Elizabeth,  and 
Elizabeth  looked  up  at  Bobby,  and 
laughed  and  shook  her  head.  And  at 
last  Elizabeth  rose,  and  they  two 
wandered  off  down  the  shore  toward 
Old  Goodwin's  stone  pier.  I  caught  a 
word  or  two  of  Bobby's  as  they  went. 
I  thought  he  was  asking  her  what 
she  was.  "What  are  you?"  was  all  I 
heard;  and  she  replied,  very  prob 
ably,  that  she  was  a  teacher  of  swim 
ming  and  dancing.  And  she  turned 
and  waved  her  hand  to  us,  and  they 
were  gone. 

Then  Eve  stirred,  and  called  Tidda, 
who  came  hugging  close  her  old  tin 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE      163 

can  dripping  mud  down  upon  her 
dress.  Olivia  was  already  on  the  path 
to  the  great  house,  but  Old  Goodwin 
turned  back. 

"Adam,"  he  said,  smiling,  "I  have 
retired  from  business.  I  thought  you 
might  like  to  know.  It  seemed  as 
good  a  time  as  any." 

It  was  what  I  have  been  urging 
upon  him  these  ten  years. 

"There  will  be  enough  to  keep  me 
occupied,"  he  added,  answering  my 
unspoken  question.  "A  matter  that 
I  have  in  mind.  I  will  tell  you  about 
it  soon." 

And  he  turned  again,  and  was  gone 
up  the  path. 

I  walked  with  Eve  along  the  shore, 
and  I  wondered.  I  must  have  been 
mistaken  in  those  words  of  Bobby's. 
How  could  he  have  asked  her  that? 


164  THE   CLAMMER 


VI 

ON  that  second  day  of  June  it 
befell  that  I  was  stirring  early, 
and  I  was  out  at  dawn,  for  I  had  much 
to  do;  but  I  did  not  do  it  then,  as  I 
had  meant.  When  I  was  come  out 
into  the  fresh  breath  of  morning,  and 
was  walking  over  the  dewy  grass  to 
my  shed,  of  a  sudden  my  soul  was 
drenched  with  the  sense  of  a  great 
truth,  even  as  my  feet  and  legs  were 
drenched  with  dew.  And  the  truth 
was  this:  All  work  is  useless.  It  is  but 
a  waste  of  time  that  might  be  better 
spent  in  watching  the  sun  come  up 
through  the  mists  of  morning  to  rule 
over  his  kingdom;  or  in  seeing  him 
sink  behind  the  bearded  hills  in  the 
golden  haze  of  evening.  At  either 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE      165 

time  the  old  earth  is  at  peace,  and  the 
waters  stilled  or  just  waking,  but  the 
dawn  is  the  better.  I  would  contem 
plate  the  majesty  of  the  sunrise  and 
consider  upon  it.  It  restoreth  my  soul. 
So  my  cares  slipped  from  off  my 
shoulders  as  a  garment,  and  I  turned 
my  steps  to  the  steep  path,  and  came 
to  the  shore,  and  over  the  sand  and 
pebbles  to  my  clam  beds  at  the  point ; 
and  I  hurried,  for  I  would  not  miss 
the  rising  of  the  sun.  But  I  did  miss 
it,  and  saw  the  sun  shining  through 
a  thick  haze,  with  his  lower  edge  just 
risen  out  of  the  sea.  The  tide  was 
high,  and  the  waters  whispered  gent 
ly  at  my  feet,  and  stretched  away  in 
all  manner  of  opalescent  colors  until, 
toward  the  south,  they  were  lost  in 
a  tender  pearl-gray  that  seemed  to 
cover  everything. 


166  THE   CLAMMER 

One  needs  to  be  alone  at  such  a 
time;  alone  or  with  one  other.  And 
Eve  had  not  divined  my  intention 
any  more  than  I  had,  but  she  had 
been  sleeping  sweetly,  with  one  white 
arm  curved  above  her  head  upon 
the  pillow,  and  she  had  smiled  in 
her  sleep,  and  I  had  withdrawn  cau 
tiously  and  quietly.  She  supposed 
that  I  would  be  working  at  my  prep 
arations.  Working!  And  I  laughed 
silently  to  myself.  But  I  wished  that 
I  had  known  what  I  should  do.  Per 
haps  she  would  not  have  minded 
being  waked. 

So  I  stood  there,  scarcely  moving, 
looking  out  into  that  tender  pearl- 
gray,  until  the  sun  was  half  an  hour 
high  or  more.  Some  of  the  magic  was 
gone,  and  I  knew  that  it  was  to  be 
hot;  hot  and  moist  and  sticky.  And 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE       167 

a  fisherman  crawled  out  into  the  bay, 
and  then  another,  their  sails  hanging 
in  wrinkles.  They  were  not  afraid  of 
submarines.  Who  could  be  afraid  of 
submarines  in  that  quiet,  opalescent 
water,  that  pearl-gray  haze?  Subma 
rines  there! 

I  laughed  and  turned  away.  Work 
no  longer  seemed  so  useless  a  waste 
of  time.  I  must  be  at  mine.  There 
are  many  things  to  be  seen  to  besides 
the  digging  of  clams.  I  marched  back 
along  the  shore,  and  up  the  path,  and 
through  the  wet  grass.  The  grass 
must  be  cut.  Usually  I  keep  it  cut, 
but  there  is  a  dearth  this  year  of  men 
who  work  by  the  day,  and  I  can  get 
no  man  to  help  me.  What  is  done  I 
shall  have  to  do  myself. 

So  I  came  to  the  hole  scooped  in 
the  ground  just  without  the  shadow 


i68  THE   CLAMMER 

of  my  pine,  and  I  cleared  it  out,  the 
accumulation  of  the  winter,  down 
to  the  lining  of  great  stones.  And 
I  brought  out  the  plain  wooden 
benches,  and  the  great  pine  planks 
laid  on  wooden  horses,  to  serve  as  ta 
bles,  and  I  set  them  in  their  places, 
and  I  rubbed  the  tops  of  the  tables  till 
they  were  all  shining  white.  And  a 
big  wagon  came  with  a  load  of  sea 
weed — rockweed — all  fresh  and  wet 
and  dripping,  its  little  brown  blad 
ders  soft  and  swollen,  and  the  load 
of  wet  weed  was  dumped  in  a  slip 
pery  pile.  There  were  chickens  also  to 
come,  and  lobsters,  and  fish,  what 
ever  kinds  the  fishermen  brought  in, 
but  no  bluefish  caught  in  the  bay 
these  many  years;  and  many  loaves 
of  brown  bread.  But  all  those  things 
would  come  later,  and  I  had  no  con- 


AND  THE    SUBMARINE      169 

cern  with  them  save  to  bake  them  — 
but  not  the  brown  bread.  So  I  looked 
about,  and  seeing  all  things  done  that 
were  to  do  at  that  time,  I  went  in  to 
breakfast. 

I  was  restless,  and  dragged  Eve 
out,  and  we  went  prowling  along  the 
shore,  although  it  yet  lacked  an  hour 
of  the  time  set  for  the  assembling 
of  our  company;  but  there  was  Old 
Goodwin  leaning  against  a  tree  above 
the  clam  beds,  gazing  out  over  the 
water. 

I  followed  his  gaze,  and  I  saw  his 
ocean  steamer  lying  there,  at  anchor. 
She  had  come  in  since  sunrise,  for 
the  water  then  had  been  empty  of 
steam  yachts.  And  men  were  swarm 
ing  over  her  rail  and  were  getting  set 
tled  upon  stagings  —  planks  —  that 
hung  there. 


170  THE   CLAMMER 

Old  Goodwin  turned  to  us.  "Good- 
morning,"  he  said,  smiling  his  quiet 
smile  of  peace. 

"Good-morning,"  I  returned.  "It 
seems  like  afternoon  to  me.  It  is  a 
long  time  since  sunrise.  Your  boat 
was  n't  there  then.  What  are  they 
doing  to  her?  Painting  a  gold  band 
around  her?" 

He  smiled  once  more.  "No  gold,'* 
he  said.  "She  needed  paint.  I 
thought  that  gray  would  be  a  good 
color.  It  wears  well,  and  does  n't 
show  bruises." 

"He  has  given  her  to  the  navy," 
Eve  whispered.  Her  eyes  were  shin 
ing. 

"I  thought  I  might  as  well,"  said 
Old  Goodwin  as  if  apologizing.  "I 
have  given  up  New  York  — for  a  time 
anyway  —  and  shall  not  need  her. 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE      171 

That  is  the  matter  I  spoke  of.  I  shall 
want  your  advice,  Adam." 

"Now?"  I  asked.  "It  is  rather 
sudden." 

He  laughed.  "Not  now.  There  is 
hardly  time.  There  comes  the  Arca 
dia." 

I  had  seen  her  looming  through  the 
haze.  She  seemed  to  be  coming  rap 
idly,  and  there  was  little  wind.  I  men 
tioned  it. 

"Fergus  had  a  motor  put  in  her 
this  year,"  Old  Goodwin  answered. 
"He  hated  to.  Said  it  was  spoiling  a 
beautiful  boat,  but  he  had  to  do  it." 

Then  there  was  a  noise  up  the  path, 
and  Tom  Ellis  appeared  with  Cecily. 

"Hello,  people,"  he  said.  "Are 
we  the  first?  I  was  afraid  we  would 
be,  but  I  could  n't  hold  Cecily  any 
longer." 


172  THE   CLAMMER 

Cecily  smiled.  "Don't  take  any 
notice  of  him,  Eve,  and  he'll  run 
down  pretty  soon." 

"And,"  Tom  went  on,  "Cecily 
could  have  painted  for  another  half 
hour  and  earned  fifty  dollars  more. 
You  see  what  a  sacrifice  I  have  made 
for  you." 

"And  your  country." 

"Country  comes  first,  doesn't  it, 
Adam?  Ought  to,  but  I  'm  afraid  the 
clams  had  a  good  deal  to  do  with 
it.  What  do  you  think  of  my  uni 
form?" 

Tom  had  on  the  worst  looking 
clothes  that  I  have  ever  seen  on  a 
respectable  man  who  did  no  work. 
They  were  soaked  with  a  mixture  of 
oil  and  grease  and  dirt,  and  spattered 
with  mud,  which  covered  them  in 
great  patches  here  and  there,  and 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       173 

one  sleeve  of  his  coat  was  torn  nearly 
off.  It  looked  as  if  a  machinist,  in  his 
oily  jumper,  had  rolled  in  wet  clay. 
His  rubber  boots  were  those  of  a  mix 
er  of  mortar  and  concrete. 

"  I  am  lost  in  admiration,  Tom,"  I 
said.  "The  others  will  hardly  be  able 
to  equal  that." 

"No,"  Tom  returned  proudly; 
and  he  threw  down  his  rake.  He  had 
brought  an  instrument  very  like  a 
potato  digger,  a  short-handled  rake 
with  huge  tines.  "The  only  private, 
you  know.  I  thought  my  uniform 
ought  to  have  distinction.  Cleaned 
up  Mr.  Goodwin's  cars  for  the  pur 
pose."  Old  Goodwin  laughed  sud 
denly  at  that.  "Then  I  whitewashed 
the  henhouse,  with  this  artistic  result. 
It's  quite  fun  whitewashing  hen 
houses.  Ever  try  it,  Adam?  Did  it 


174  THE   CLAMMER 

with  a  pump  and  hose.  Whitewash 
on  the  windows  is  an  inch  thick." 

I  laughed.  "  I  have  had  that  pleas 
ure  in  the  distant  past,  and  I  don't 
want  any  more  of  it.  But  you  have 
not  accounted  for  the  mud." 

Tom  surveyed  the  mud  and  shook 
his  head. 

"Can't  account  for  it,"  he  said. 
"Haven't  been  near  any  mud.  I 
can't  imagine  how  it  got  there,  unless 
Cecily  borrowed  the  clothes.  But 
this  party,  Adam,  is  a  sort  of  farewell 
party  for  me.  I  Ve  enlisted.  I  go  to 
morrow." 

"Go  to-morrow!"  I  cried.  "Where? 
And  what  have  you  enlisted  for?" 

"That  is  somewhat  ambiguous  as 
a  question,  but  I  will  answer  all  its 
meanings.  I've  enlisted  because  my 
country  needs  me.  All  the  posters 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE      175 

say  so.  That  one  of  the  old  gentle 
man  in  the  star-spangled  hat  look 
ing  right  at  you  and  pointing  right 
at  you,  and  saying,  'Your  country 
needs  YOU,'  or  words  to  that  effect, 
was  what  got  me  finally.  I  could  n't 
get  away  from  it.  He  was  pointing 
at  me  and  looking  at  me,  wherever 
I  went.  And  I've  enlisted  for  four 
years,  and  — " 

11  Four  years!11  gasped  Cecily,  wide- 
eyed.  "  You  never  told  me  that,  Tom." 

11  Did  n't  I?  It  must  have  been  an 
oversight,  Cecily.  You  won't  mind, 
will  you?  And  I've  enlisted  to  go  to 
Newport  and  drive  some  admiral  or 
other  around  in  a  large  gray  car.  Oh, 
it 's  not  half  bad.  When  the  subma 
rines  begin  to  school  off  Nantucket, 
perhaps  they  '11  let  me  go  out  there 
once  in  a  while  and  get  a  load." 


176  THE    CLAMMER 

"Tom,"  said  Eve,  patting  his  arm, 
her  eyes  shining  again,  "I  think  it's 
splendid.  I  could  kiss  you  for  it." 

"Wait,  Eve,  until  Cecily's  not 
around,"  Tom  whispered;  "and  per 
haps  Adam  could  be  spared.  Then, 
if  you  like  — " 

"I'm  going  to  Newport  to-mor 
row,"  Cecily  broke  in  decidedly. 
"  I  'm  going  to  live  there." 

"Oh,  I  say!"  said  Tom.  And  Old 
Goodwin  offered  to  take  them  both 
over  next  day  in  his  new  car,  and  let 
Tom  drive.  And  he  offered  further  to 
ferry  Cecily  back  and  forth  as  often 
as  she  liked,  and  to  lend  them  a  car  if 
they  wished. 

So   everybody   was   happy,  —  ex 
cepting  perhaps  Tom  and  Cecily,  - 
and  the  Arcadia  was  just  rounding  to 
her  anchorage,  and  we  watched  while 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE       177 

the  shining  mahogany  launch  put  off. 
But,  before  coming  in,  the  launch 
went  slowly  along  the  whole  length 
of  Old  Goodwin's  ocean  steamer.  I 
could  see  Captain  Fergus  looking  at 
the  work  as  though  he  were  inspect 
ing  it,  and  once  he  boomed  forth  a 
question,  which  was  answered  as  if 
he  had  a  right  to  ask  it,  and  then  the 
launch  made  for  the  landing. 

I  wondered  at  it,  but  I  wondered 
more  at  Eve.  For  Eve  has  pacifist 
leanings,  as  I  have  reason  to  know 
and  as  I  have  said  before;  and  here 
she  was  with  all  the  signs  of  approval 
for  Tom's  action,  and  ready  to  kiss 
him  for  it.  It  might  be  that  Eve  was 
entirely  willing  that  the  war  should 
be  fought  vicariously,  and  that  she 
would  sacrifice  all  her  friends  in  the 
cause  —  but  not  her  family.  That 


178  THE   CLAMMER 

was  not  like  Eve.  I  refused  to  believe 
it  of  her.  And  I  turned  away  and  was 
musing  upon  this  matter  when  there 
came  down  the  path  Captain  Fergus 
and  Mrs.  Fergus,  and  Jimmy  Wales 
and  Bobby  and  Ogilvie;  and,  some 
distance  behind  them,  Elizabeth  and 
Olivia.  And  that  was  strange,  too, 
that  those  two  girls  should  be  com 
ing  by  themselves  when  Bobby  and 
Jack  Ogilvie  were  just  ahead;  but  I 
could  not  be  bothering  myself  about 
all  the  queer  things  that  people  did 
—  or  did  not  do.  They  did  not  con 
cern  me.  There  were  enough  things 
that  did  concern  me  to  bother  about. 

All  the  company  were  there.  I  drew 
near  to  Eve. 

"If  Alice  Carbonnel  were  here 
now,"  I  said,  "and  Harrison,  we 
should  be  complete." 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE      179 

"Alice!"  Eve  returned.  "I  wish 
that  I  knew!" 

Alice  Carbonnel  was  in  Belgium,  the 
last  we  knew,  and  Harrison  Rindge, 
her  husband,  was  hunting  for  her.  I 
hope  he  has  found  her  —  safe.  We 
are  very  fond  of  Alice  Carbonnel, 
Eve  and  I. 

"There  is  somebody  else  to  come, 
Adam,"  said  Eve.  "  You  would  never 
guess.  It  is  my  mother." 

I  smiled,  remembering  another  day 
when  I  had  met  Eve  just  at  that  spot 
to  take  her  to  another  clambake;  a 
smoking  dome  upon  a  point,  beneath 
a  pine. 

The  point  and  the  pine  belonged 
to  a  queer  fellow  that  I  knew  —  knew 
well,  I  thought  sometimes,  and  some 
times  not. 

And   so    I    smiled,    remembering. 


i8o  THE   CLAMMER 

"Eve,"  I  said,  "do  governesses  have 
mothers?" 

And  she  smiled  too,  and  she  slipped 
her  hand  within  my  arm,  and  looked 
up  at  me  with  that  light  in  her  eyes 
that  makes  them  pass  all  wonders. 

"Oh,  Adam,"  she  said,  "that  was  a 
happy  day  —  for  me.  Oh,  but  it  was 
hard,  and  I  was  afraid." 

"A  happier  day  for  me,"  I  said, 
pressing  her  arm  close  to  my  side. 
"But  here  comes  your  mother." 

And  Mrs.  Goodwin  came  sailing 
down  the  path,  with  our  little  daugh 
ter  skipping  beside  her,  and  she  smiled 
as  she  came,  which  was  not  what  she 
had  been  used  to  do  in  that  time  that 
I  remembered.  And  our  company 
being  all  assembled,  and  the  beds  be 
ing  uncovered,  although  the  tide  was 
not  yet  at  its  lowest,  I  gave  the  order 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       181 

to  dig.  So  we  dug,  even  Mrs.  Good 
win  digging  three  clams,  and  she  was 
not  clad  as  a  clammer  should  be  clad, 
but  she  had  some  rubber  boots,  new 
ones  and  thin  as  gossamer,  which  a 
clamshell  cut  through.  And  thereafter 
she  sat  upon  the  bank  and  cheered  us 
on,  and  gibed  at  our  raiment;  as  if 
the  body  were  not  more  than  raiment. 
We  dug  for  an  hour,  and  got  clams 
enough  for  a  regiment.  All  the  bas 
kets  were  filled  to  overflowing.  And 
we  stopped  digging,  one  by  one,  and 
straightened  our  backs  slowly,  with 
many  creaks  and  groans,  and  we 
drifted  to  the  bank  and  in  and  out; 
and  when  the  drifting  process  was 
over,  I  found  myself  next  to  Eve,  with 
Elizabeth  on  the  other  side  of  her, 
and  Ogilvie  completing  the  circle. 
Bobby  stood  afar  off,  looking  out 


182  THE   CLAMMER 

over  the  water  as  if  he  were  seeing  his 
best  friend  swallowed  by  a  submarine; 
and  Olivia  watched  him  from  a  dis 
tance. 

"I  notice,  Jack,"  Elizabeth  ob 
served,  "that  Olivia  has  a  lonesome 
look." 

Ogilvie  turned  and  looked,  and 
turned  back  again  and  smiled. 

"She  has,  has  n't  she?  Bobby  too." 

Elizabeth  never  quivered.  "Don't 
you  want  to  relieve  her  loneliness?" 

He  shook  his  head.    "/  couldn't 
relieve  it.  I  told  you.  I  '11  try  later  - 
her  last  chance." 

Elizabeth  laughed.  I  was  picking 
up  a  bushel  basket  filled  with  clams. 
Clams  are  a  heavy  fruit.  Ogilvie 
seized  one  handle. 

"  Here!"  cried  Elizabeth.  "  I  'm  go 
ing  to  take  that  side.  I  want  to  help 


AND  THE    SUBMARINE       183 

Adam.  You  go  with  Eve,  Jack.  She 
has  something  for  you  to  carry." 

Ogilvie  protested,  and  so  did  I, 
but  she  was  firm. 

"  I  want  to  go  with  you,  Adam. 
You  need  n't  think  I  can't  carry  my 
side,  for  I  can." 

So  we  set  off,  Eve  and  Jack  Ogilvie 
with  a  market  basket  of  clams  and 
various  hoes,  and  Elizabeth  and  I 
carrying  that  bushel  of  clams  be 
tween  us.  Elizabeth  was  strong,  I 
found,  and  sure-footed;  surer  than  I. 
The  others  came  straggling  after, 
carrying  their  loads. 

"Elizabeth,"  I  began,  "what  is  the 
matter  with  Bobby?" 

She  smiled  and  turned  to  observe 
Bobby.  "  I  'm  sure  I  don't  know.  He 
seems  to  be  well  occupied  with  Oli 
via."  Then  she  changed  suddenly. 


184  THE   CLAMMER 

"That  was  not  honest,  Adam,"  she 
said.  "I  do  know,  but  it  is  nothing 
that  I  can  help.  He  will  get  over  it 
in  time  —  perhaps.  I  wish  he  would, 
for  it  is  not  amusing  as  it  is." 

And  she  sighed  softly,  and  then  she 
smiled  up  at  me.  It  was  a  brave  at 
tempt,  and  almost  a  success. 

"And  Ogilvie?"  I  asked  softly. 

She  laughed,  and  spoke  low.  "  Jack 
has  found  a  little  yeogirl.  He  was 
telling  me  about  her.  She  is  the 
loveliest  thing  that  ever  was,  and  the 
sweetest  and  the  gentlest.  She  may 
be  all  that,  of  course,  but  there  are 
some  lovely,  sweet,  and  gentle  girls 
of  his  own  kind.  But,  at  any  rate, 
Olivia  is  nothing  to  him  now.  It  has 
done  him  that  much  good  already." 

I  was  silent,  thinking.  I  wondered 
how  I  should  like  it  if  Pukkie,  being 


AND  THE    SUBMARINE       185 

of  age  and  his  own  master,  should 
elect  a  yeogirl  to  the  high  place  in 
his  regard  now  held  by  his  mother 
and  me ;  should  elect  the  yeogirl  to  a 
higher  place.  It  would  be  a  blow.  I 
could  not  deny  it.  But  we  had  been 
ascending  the  steep  path,  and  we  set 
our  bushel  of  clams  beside  the  hole 
lined  with  stones  and  the  slippery 
pile  of  brown  rockweed.  I  sighed  as 
we  set  the  basket  down,  and  sordid 
Elizabeth.  Then  we  both  laughed. 

"  I  'm  glad  that's  done,"  said  Eliza 
beth. 

"Amen!"  said  I. 

Then  came  Tom  Ellis  and  Cecily, 
and  set  their  basket  down ;  and  Tom, 
without  stopping,  went  to  my  pile  of 
cord  wood,  and  brought  an  armful  and 
laid  the  sticks  in  order  on  the  stones. 

"Come,  Adam,"  he  said,  soberly. 


i86  THE  CLAMMER 

"Remember,  it's  my  last  clambake 
for  four  years." 

"Don't  say  it,  Tom!"  cried  Cecily 
sharply.  "I'll  help  you  with  your 
wood." 

So  there  was  a  procession  of  us  go 
ing  to  the  woodpile  and  back,  and  the 
sticks  were  laid  in  order,  three  lay 
ers,  on  the  stones ;  then  another  layer 
of  great  stones,  each  stone  as  big  as 
a  football,  on  the  top  of  the  wood. 
Then  I  came  with  a  can  of  kerosene, 
and  sprinkled  the  wood  liberally.  Eve 
had  some  matches,  and  she  held  one 
out  to  Ogilvie.; 

"Light  up,  Ogilvie,"  said  Tom. 
"It's  your  honor." 

And  Ogilvie  lighted  the  pile,  and 
Tom  made  some" feeble  joke  about  a 
funeral  pyre,  and  Cecily  almost  wept; 
and  the  fire  blazed  up  fiercely,  and 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       187 

we  all  drew  back.  It  was  hot  enough 
without  the  fire,  and  would  have 
been  almost  unbearable  but  for  the 
southwest  breeze  which  had  started 
up,  and  which  was  sweeping  gently, 
over  my  bluff.  And  we  watched  the 
fire,  as  anyone  will  watch  any  fire  — 
there  is  fascination  in  it  —  but  they 
began  to  drift  away  —  to  get  off  their 
rubber  boots  and  to  prepare  them 
selves.  No  doubt  they  would  have 
fasted  if  there  had  been  time.  And 
at  last  there  were  left  only  Old  Good 
win  and  Tom  and  Ogilvie  and  I.  Eve 
had  gone  into  the  house  to  fetch  the 
things,  and  Cecily  and  Elizabeth  with 
her. 

When  the  fire  had  burned  long  and 
the  stones  were  hot,  we  raked  the 
ashes  off;  and  shook  down  upon  the 
stones  fresh  seaweed  from  the  pile, 


i88  THE    CLAMMER 

and  on  the  seaweed  laid  the  clams. 
Then  more  seaweed;  and  the  other 
things,  in  layers,  orderly,  with  the 
clean,  salt-smelling  weed  between; 
then  the  loose  stones,  hot  stone  foot 
balls,  and  over  all  we  piled  the  weed 
and  made  a  dome  that  smoked  and 
steamed  and  filled  the  air  with  in 
cense.  And  the  others,  having  rested 
from  their  labors,  leaning  on  their 
forks  or  sitting  on  the  ground,  went 
their  several  ways;  for  they  would 
garb  themselves. 

Eve  did  not  place  her  guests.  She 
considered,  a  pretty  though tfulness 
in  her  eyes  and  about  her  mouth,  and 
cast  her  place-cards  in  a  little  heap 
on  the  table,  saying  that  they  might 
place  themselves;  for  she  did  not 
know  what  was  going  on,  and  feared 
to  make  a  bad  matter  worse. 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE      189 

They  did  place  themselves,  after 
much  hesitation  and  drifting  about. 
Elizabeth  sat  next  to  me.  She  seemed 
to  think  me  a  kind  of  refuge.  And 
Ogilvie  sat  at  Eve's  right,  —  she  saw 
to  that,  —  and  Olivia  next  because 
she  could  not  help  it,  and  then 
Bobby.  Where  the  rest  sat  did  not 
matter.  And  Old  Goodwin  and  Tom 
and  I  took  our  forks  and  opened  the 
smoking  dome,  and  set  upon  the 
table  chicken  and  fish  and  lobsters 
and  brown  bread,  and  great  pans  of 
clams  steaming  in  their  gaping  shells. 
Then  all  would  have  set  themselves 
to  the  business  of  eating;  but  I  had 
my  instructions.  I  took  an  old  dust- 
encrusted  bottle  from  Eve's  place, 
and  opened  it,  and  went  about  and 
poured  into  the  glasses  luminous 
golden  stuff  from  that  old  bottle. 


igo  THE   CLAMMER 

Then  Eve  rose,  and  proposed  Ogil- 
vie's  health.  And  we  all  drank  it,  but 
Ogilvie  flushed  and  did  not  know 
what  to  do. 

"Oh,"  he  said  to  Eve,  "I  never 
had  that  done  to  me  before." 

And  we  all  laughed,  and  fell  to 
eating.  We  opened  the  clams  with 
our  fingers,  and  took  the  clam  by  the 
head,  and  gave  him  a  swirl  in  the 
saucer  of  melted  butter,  and  threw 
our  heads  back,  and  took  his  body  in 
to  our  mouths,  and  bit  him  off  and 
cast  the  head  aside,  and  took  the  next 
one.  All  there  had  had  much  experi 
ence  in  the  process,  and  the  clams 
that  had  seemed  enough  for  a  regi 
ment  were  soon  eaten,  and  there  was 
a  prodigious  pile  of  shells  under  the 
table  so  that  one  could  not  move  his 
feet  without  rattling.  And  the  lob- 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE       igi 

sters  were  gone,  and  the  chickens, 
and  most  of  the  fish,  and  much  of 
the  brown  bread.  And  first  one  sat 
back  with  a  sigh,  and  smiled,  and 
then  another ;  and  at  last  all  were  sit 
ting,  smiling  at  nothing  and  doing 
nothing  else  —  all  but  Bobby  and 
Olivia.  Bobby,  it  is  true,  had  a  smile 
graven  upon  his  face,  but  it  was  a 
smile  of  the  face  and  not  of  the  heart ; 
and  Olivia  seemed  out  of  sorts  and 
did  not  take  the  trouble  to  smile  at 
all.  And  the  bake  was  but  an  empty 
wreck.  Then  Eve  rose  quietly,  and 
they  all  got  themselves  slowly  upon 
their  feet,  and  began  to  drift  about 
the  bluff. 

My  place  is  not  very  big,  only  the 
clipped  lawn  in  front  of  the  house, 
and  about  an  acre  on  the  south  side 
ending  in  the  bluff,  and  a  couple  of 


iQ2  THE   CLAMMER 

acres  to  the  north,  where  lies  my  gar 
den  and  the  rest  a  hay  field.  I  should 
have  ploughed  up  that  hay  field  and 
put  it  into  potatoes  if  I  could  have 
found  anybody  to  do  the  ploughing. 
But  it  is  just  as  well  as  a  hay  field. 
Everybody  has  been  planting  pota 
toes  this  year.  I  almost  expect  to 
see  the  gutters  sprouting  potatoes  as 
I  ride  along  with  Old  Goodwin  in 
his  car.  Potatoes  will  be  cheap  next 
winter.  And  if  I  had  ploughed  up 
that  field  it  would  have  been  even 
less  inviting  for  our  guests  to  wander 
over. 

Not  that  any  of  them  showed  any 
disposition  to  wander  over  it.  The 
older  ones  seemed  well  content  to 
settle  down  again  under  my  pine, 
Bobby  was  mooning  alone  at  the  edge 
of  the  bluff,  Elizabeth  was  standing 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE       193 

talking  with  Jimmy  Wales,  and  Jack 
Ogilvie  was  trying  to  persuade  Olivia 
to  walk  to  a  little  clump  of  trees.  I 
had  seen  Eve  showing  him  the  clump 
of  trees  earlier  in  the  day.  At  last 
they  did  walk  off  toward  the  trees, 
Olivia  obviously  discontented  and 
watching  Bobby  out  of  the  corner  of 
her  eye. 

I  drifted  toward  Eve,  and  she 
drifted  toward  me,  and  we  came  to 
gether  ,'which  might  be  reprehensible 
but  was  not  strange.  We  generally 
do  come  together.  SheVas  clad  all  in 
light,  filmy  white,  with  two  red  roses 
at  her  bosom,  and  her  hair  a  glory. 
And  her  eyes  —  there  are  no  other 
such  eyes  as  hers. 

"Eve,"  I  whispered,  "do  you  want 
to  be  disgraced?  How  can  you  ex 
pect  anything  else  when  you  dress  as 


194  THE    CLAMMER 

you  did  for  that  other  clambake  that 
I  remember,  and  your  eyes  smiling, 
and  that  light  upon  your  hair?" 

It  was  more  than  her  eyes  that 
smiled  as  she  looked  at  me. 

"Yes,"  she  whispered  in  return. 
"  I  want  to  be.  Shan't  I  show  you  our 
clump  of  trees?"  She  laughed  as  she 
finished. 

I  hesitated.  "But  Ogilvie  —  and 
Olivia." 

"Stupid!"  she  said.  "I  did  not 
show  him  every  nook.  Come!" 

So  we  wandered  about,  but  we 
brought  up  at  a  secluded  nook  in  our 
clump,  and  Eve  held  up  her  face  to 
mine.  But  when  I  had  done  it  she  put 
her  finger  on  my  lips  and  listened. 

"Sh!"  she  breathed.  And  I  sh- 
sh-ed,  and  heard  Ogilvie's  voice,  but 
I  could  not  distinguish  any  words. 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE      195 

Then  came  Olivia's  voice,  shrill  and 
petulant. 

"They  are  not  having  a  good  time," 
Eve  whispered. 

"He  is,"  I  answered;  for  Ogilvie 
laughed.  It  was  a  merry  laugh. 

"We  don't  want  to  snoop,  Adam," 
said  Eve.  "Let's—" 

"Shall  we  join  the  others?"  Ogil 
vie  asked,  still  laughing. 

"  You  may  if  you  like,"  said  Olivia 
in  a  voice  filled  with  discontent. 

"And  leave  you  here?" 

"And  leave  me  here.  I  '11  take  care 
of  myself." 

"Very  well.  Good-bye,  Olivia.  I 
may  not  see  you  again." 

"Not  see  me  again?  You  mean 
to-day?"  Was  she  regretting? 

"I  mean  for  a  great  many  days. 
Perhaps  never." 


ig6  THE   CLAMMER 

"Are  you  going  away?" 

"  I  can't  tell  you.  I  go  where  I  am 
sent.  Good-bye." 

There  was  a  silence.  Then,  as  we 
stole  out,  the  sound  of  a  single  sob. 
Then  sounds  of  anger.  As  we  emerged 
from  one  side  Olivia  emerged  from  the 
other.  She  made  straight  for  Bobby, 
where  he  yet  stood  on  the  edge  of  the 
bluff,  looking  silently  over  the  water. 

A  maid  came  running  out  of  the 
house,  and  went  to  Jimmy  Wales,  and 
called  him  to  the  telephone.  In  two 
minutes  he  came  hurrying  out  again. 

"Bobby!  "he  called.  "Jack!  Come 
along.  It's  a  hurry  call  for  the  Nan- 
tucket  lightship.  We'll  go  with  you, 
Jack.  Just  as  you  are." 

He  whispered  to  me  as  he  passed. 
"Submarines  reported  off  the  Nan- 
tucket  lightship,"  he  said.  "All  the 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       197 

available  destroyers  and  chasers  or 
dered  there." 

Elizabeth  was  standing  near,  and 
she  heard.  Jack  and  Bobby  and 
Jimmy  started  on  a  run. 

"Good-bye,  Jack,"  Elizabeth  called 
in  a  clear  voice. 

He  turned  and  waved. 

"Good-bye,  Bobby,"  she  called 
again,  but  her  voice  was  not  so  loud. 

He  turned.  "  Good-bye,"  he  said.  It 
was  like  casting  at  her  head  a  chunk 
of  ice.  Ice  would  not  be  the  most  dis 
agreeable  thing  on  that  day,  but  one 
would  prefer  it  in  some  other  way 
than  thrown  at  his  head.  Elizabeth 
seemed  to  think  so,  for  she  shrugged 
her  shoulders  almost  imperceptibly, 
and  I  saw  tears  in  her  eyes  as  she 
turned  away. 

Captain  Fergus  hurried  after  the 


ig8  THE   CLAMMER 

others,  and  our  other  guests  melted 
away.  I  found  myself  standing  at  the 
edge  of  the  bluff,  just  where  Bobby 
had  been  standing,  and  I  gazed  out 
over  the  waters  of  the  bay  —  as  if  I 
could  see  the  Nantucket  lightship! 
Ogilvie's  boat  shot  out  at  full  speed, 
and  I  watched  her  until  she  was  a 
gray  speck  vanishing  into  the  gray- 
ness.  Gazing  out  and  seeing  nothing, 
and  thinking  of  submarines!  It  was 
absurd.  They  are  not,  and  yet  they 
haunt  me.  And  I  looked  down  at  the 
little  strip  of  marsh  at  the  foot  of  my 
bluff,  its  waving  greens  turned  to 
orange  under  the  afternoon  sun.  A 
blackbird  was  flying  over  those  green 
stems  waving  in  the  water.  The  tide 
was  full,  and  the  Great  Painter 
spread  his  colors  on  the  little  waves. 
It  breathed  peace,  and  here  was  I 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       199 

thinking  of  submarines.  I  cannot  get 
rid  of  them.  What  if  one  of  these  re 
ports  turn  out  to  be  true?  Why,  any 
thing  might  be  happening  out  by  the 

* 

lightship. 

And  I  saw  the  red  shoulders  of  the 
blackbird  as  he  flew.  He  lighted  on  a 
reed  stem,  which  swayed  down  nearly 
to  the  surface  of  the  water;  and  so 
swaying  up  and  down,  he  sent  out  his 
clear  whistle  again  and  again.  He 
is  not  troubled  by  the  thought  of  sub 
marines.  His  heart  is  not  in  turmoil 
over  them. 


200  THE    CLAMMER 


VII 

OVER  my  hay  field,  that  morn 
ing  toward  the  last  of  June, 
a  pleasant  breeze  was  blowing,  and 
from  the  southwest,  as  is  the  habit 
of  breezes  hereabout.  A  man  dad  in 
white  flannels,  and  wandering  slowly 
about,  would  have  found  that  hay- 
field  cool  enough  and  pleasant,  I  have 
no  doubt.  I  found  it  pleasant,  but 
not  cool,  for  I  was  mowing.  For  weeks 
I  sought  some  one  —  any  one  —  who 
would  cut  my  grass,  and  cut  it  in 
June,  for  I  have  a  prejudice  in  favor 
of  June  for  cutting  hay.  In  the  last 
week  of  June  the  grass  is  in  full  flower 

—  tiny  blossoms  of  a  pale  violet  color 

—  and  the  stems  are  swollen  with  the 
juices,  and  rich  and  tender.   I,  in  my 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE       201 

ignorance,  believe  that  it  makes  more 
succulent  hay  than  if  cut  in  July, 
when  the  stalks  have  begun  to  dry  up 
and  become  thin  and  wiry.  Besides, 
if  it  is  cut  in  June  it  is  out  of  the  way, 
and  I  can  use  my  hayfield  for  a  ball- 
field  if  I  am  so  minded. 

I  am  no  mower,  and  I  have  not 
known  what  a  scythe  should  be.  I 
was  dimly  aware  that  my  old  scythe 
was  not  everything  that  could  be  de 
sired,  for  I  remember  that  when  I 
took  it  to  be  ground  the  man  applied 
it  lightly  to  his  stone,  then  harder, 
then  cursed  and  bore  on  with  all  his 
might,  and  cursed  again  and  sweated 
for  half  an  hour,  and  charged  me  ten 
cents,  holding  the  scythe  out  to  me 
as  if  he  never  wanted  to  see  it  again. 
He  observed  that  it  was  the  hardest 
scythe  he  ever  see;  and  I  smiled  and 


202  THE   CLAMMER 

thanked  him,  and  thought  no  more 
of  the  matter,  and  walked  off  with 
my  scythe.  And  I  struggled  with  that 
scythe  for  ten  years,  never  being  able 
to  keep  it  sharp,  and  spending  much 
more  time  with  the  whetstone  than 
I  did  in  mowing,  but  I  did  but  lit 
tle  mowing,  only  trimming  around 
here  and  there.  I  never  got  the  scythe 
sharp.  I  know  that  now,  but  I  did 
not  know  it  then,  attributing  the  fault 
to  my  own  lack  of  skill. 

I  got  a  new  scythe  the  other  day, 
being  unwilling  to  whet  through  two 
acres.  I  can  get  it  as  sharp  as  a  razor 
in  half  a  dozen  strokes  of  the  stone. 
When  I  tried  it  the  other  afternoon, 
just  before  dinner,  I  found  myself 
laughing,  and  I  should  have  gone 
at  the  hayfield  then  if  Eve  had  not 
stopped  me.  Now  I  go  about  with 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE      203 

my  scythe  in  my  hand,  and  hunt  for 
clumps  of  grass  tall  enough  to  cut, 
for  the  hayfield  is  shorn  close  and 
tolerably  smooth,  and  the  grass  lies 
in  the  sun  and  gives  off  all  manner 
of  sweet  odors. 

The  mowing  of  that  hayfield  with 
that  new  scythe  was  simply  a  joy  — 
a  delight.  I  swung  to  and  fro  with 
the  rhythmic  motion  of  rowing  — 
mowing  is  not  unlike  rowing,  and 
one  swings  about  thirty  or  more  to 
the  minute  —  with  my  eyes  on  the 
ground,  and  I  listened  to  the  sounds: 
a  soft  ripping  with  a  little  metallic 
ting  as  the  scythe  advanced,  and  a 
gentle  swish  as  it  swung  back  again. 
Yes,  mowing  is  a  delight  —  with  a 
good  scythe;  but  it  is  a  hot  sort  of 
amusement.  If  I  could  regulate  mat 
ters  mowing  time  should  fall  in  No- 


204  THE   CLAMMER 

vemb3r.  All  mowing  should  be  done 
by  hand,  and  mowing  should  be  com 
pulsory  for  all  able-bodied  men.  They 
would  be  the  better  for  it. 

I  stood  for  a  few  minutes,  leaning 
on  my  scythe  and  letting  the  breeze 
blow  through  me  and  gazing  down 
the  bay.  Then  I  went  at  my  mowing 
again  and  the  scythe  sang  a  new  song. 
It  was  sub  —  marine;  sub  —  marine, 
over  and  over.  And  I  kept  at  my 
mowing  mechanically  while  I  thought 
my  thoughts.  There  had  been  no  re 
ports  of  submarines  since  the  day  of 
Eve's  party,  and  nothing  further  said 
of  the  report  of  that  day.  Even 
Bobby  would  say  no  more  than  that 
they  did  not  find  any;  and  when  I 
would  have  rallied  him,  remarking 
that  I  feared  he  had  not  baited  his 
traps  properly,  he  glowered  at  me, 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE      205 

which  hurt  my  feelings.  It  was  not 
like  Bobby  to  glower.  But  Bobby 
seemed  tormented  by  that  restless 
ness  which  seizes  on  men  in  a  certain 
case.  I  did  not  laugh  at  him,  for  I 
feared  lest  he  take  it  but  ill,  but  I  did 
counsel  him  to  take  to  clamming; 
at  which  he  gave  me  a  smile  that 
would  have  brought  tears  to  Eve's 
eyes.  He  has  not  yet  found  that 
fount  of  eternal  youth,  and  whether 
he  will  find  it  or  not  no  one  can  guess. 
I  hope  he  will,  and  that  joy  and  peace 
will  be  in  his  abiding  place  forever. 
And  the  one  who  should  show  him 
the  fount  is  not  far  to  seek,  as  he  well 
knows;  but,  as  I  think,  and  Eve  too, 
he  is  stubborn  and  cherishes  some 
fancied  grievance,  hugging  it  to  his 
heart.  The  poor  fool ! 
Then  I  stopped  mowing,  and 


206  THE   CLAMMER 

straightened  my  back,  and  rested. 
And,  on  a  sudden,  that  talking  ma 
chine  of  my  neighbor  began  pouring 
forth  a  strident  voice,  and  I  looked 
and  there  was  the  little  Sands  girl 
watching  me  over  the  wall.  She  no 
longer  throws  things.  But  I  was  not 
giving  an  exhibition  of  mowing,  and 
I  nodded  to  her,  and  went  back  to 
my  garden.  Melons  are  a  lottery;  but 
I  looked  at  my  peas  —  my  second 
look  that  morning  —  to  make  sure 
that  they  will  be  ready  for  the  Fourth, 
and  I  took  a  turn  about  the  garden. 
And  all  the  while  I  listened,  much 
against  my  will,  to  that  strident 
voice.  And  when  it  had  finished  that 
particular  humorous  selection,  I  fled, 
my  scythe  on  my  arm,  for  fear  that  I 
should  have  some  sort  of  secret  liking 
for  the  next  selection;  and  I  came  to 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE      207 

my  pine,  and  I  sat  me  down  on  the 
seat,  and  again  my  gaze  ran  across  the 
waters  of  the  harbor,  well  ruffled  by 
the  breeze  and  dancing  in  the  sun,  to 
the  shore  opposite;  and  down  that 
curving  line  of  shore  to  the  light 
house  on  its  rock;  and  over  the  blue- 
gray  water  beyond,  that  was  lightly 
veiled  in  haze,  to  the  islands  floating 
high.  And  on  the  water  between  the 
lighthouse  and  the  islands  I  saw  the 
Arcadia.  She  was  coming  fast,  with 
all  her  light  canvas  set,  a  thing  of 
beauty.  It  would  be  a  fast  submarine 
I  thought,  that  could  damage  her  — 
in  any  sort  of  breeze.  Then  I  thought 
idly  of  Captain  Fergus,  and  of  Eliza 
beth  and  Olivia,  and  Bobby  and  Ogil- 
vie,  and  of  Eve  and  Pukkie.  That 
is  the  goal  —  Eve  and  Pukkie  and 
Tidda  —  little  Eve. 


208  THE   CLAMMER 

Elizabeth  has  been  our  guest  for  the 
past  two  weeks  when  she  has  not  been 
on  the  Arcadia.  She  puzzles  me  yet. 
What  is  she  doing  here  so  long  —  a 
poor  girl,  seeming  to  be  loafing  out 
the  summer?  She  should  be  conduct 
ing  her  classes  in  swimming.  It  is 
likely  enough  that  the  same  question 
has  been  a  puzzle  to  Bobby;  but  he 
takes  it  harder  than  I.  I  am  content 
to  let  the  question  go  unanswered  and 
have  her  stay  with  us.  She  is  a  good 
comrade,  and  a  comfort  to  Eve,  and 
she  is  fond  of  Tidda,  and  Pukkie  is 
her  willing  slave.  For  Pukkie  is  at 
home  again. 

He  came  on  the  twelfth.  I  remem 
ber  that  we  had  had  a  hard  rain  for 
two  days  before,  and  that  all  the 
ploughed  land  was  no  better  than  a 
bog,  and  all  the  fields  were  covered 


AND  THE  SUBMARINE      209 

with  water  under  their  cover  of  grass, 
so  that  the  water  was  running  out 
through  the  crevices  of  the  stone 
walls,  through  each  crevice  a  rivulet. 
But  not  my  field,  and  my  garden  was 
no  bog.  And  I  waited,  sitting  just 
where  I  was  at  that  moment  and  gaz 
ing  idly  at  the  same  things  that  were 
there  before  my  eyes.  I  could  not 
work  in  peace,  nor  sit  in  peace  for 
many  minutes  at  a  time,  but  I  spent 
the  morning  going  like  a  shuttle  from 
garden  to  pine  and  wandering  the 
shore,  then  back  again. 

Eve  had  gone  with  Old  Goodwin 
in  his  fastest  car  to  bring  him  back 
— "  him  "  being  Pukkie,  my  son.  But 
as  the  time  approached  for  his  arrival 
I  sat  upon  the  bench  and  simulated 
peace  and  content,  and  gave  no  out 
ward  sign  of  other;  but  every  muscle 


aio  THE   CLAMMER 

was  tense,  and  every  nerve  on  edge; 
I  listened  so  hard  that  it  hurt,  and 
I  wished  devoutly  that  Old  Goodwin's 
car  was  not  so  perfect  and  so  silent, 
and  I  resolutely  kept  my  gaze  fixed 
upon  the  distant  hills,  and  did  not 
see  them. 

At  last  I  heard  the  latch  of  the  gate 
click  faintly,  as  though  somebody 
had  tried  to  lift  it  without  noise,  and 
I  heard  an  excited  chuckle,  instantly 
subdued.  And  I  turned  quickly,  for 
getting  that  I  had  resolved  not  to 
turn,  and  there  was  Pukkie  running 
toward  me.  And  I  whipped  up  and 
ran,  and  I  sank  upon  one  knee  and 
held  my  arms  wide.  And  Pukkie  ran 
into  them  at  full  speed,  almost  knock 
ing  me  over,  and  he  threw  his  arms 
around  my  neck,  and  he  hugged  me. 
He  hugged  me  so  tight  that  I  was 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       211 

nearly  strangled ;  but  not  quite  — 
not  so  nearly  but  that  I  could  hug 
him  close  and  whisper  in  his  ear. 

"Oh,  Pukkie!"  I  whispered.  "My 
dear  little  son!  My  well  beloved !" 

For  answer  he  but  hugged  me  the 
harder,  and  gave  an  excited  little 
laugh  that  was  near  to  tears.  That 
was  enough  for  me.  Indeed,  I  was 
not  so  far  from  tears.  I  looked  up  at 
Eve,  who  had  followed  close,  and 
tears  stood  in  her  eyes,  but  she  was 
smiling.  Oh,  such  a  smile!  A  smile 
that  belongs  to  wives  and  mothers 
—  of  a  certain  kind.  And,  seeing  her, 
I  gave  thanks.  But  that  is  nothing 
new  that  I  give  thanks  for  that,  for 
I  have  done  the  same  many  times  a 
day  for  many  years. 

Then  Old  Goodwin  came  up  behind 
Eve. 


212  THE    CLAMMER 

14  If  you  and  Pukkie  can  spare  the 
time,"  he  said  to  me,  "I  should  be 
glad  to  have  you  ride  home  with  me 
—  you  and  Eve.  I  have  something  to 
show  you." 

Pukkie  went  somewhat  eagerly, 
and  Eve  and  I,  having  devoted  our 
selves  to  following  our  son  about, 
went  after,  not  so  eagerly.  And  Old 
Goodwin  took  us  down  to  his  boat- 
house,  which  is  at  the  head  of  his 
stone  pier  and  gives  upon  his  artifi 
cial  harbor,  and  out  of  the  car  and 
into  the  boathouse. 

"Grandfather,"  said  Pukkie,  try 
ing  in  vain  to  keep  all  signs  of  ex 
citement  out  of  his  voice,  "is  it 
my  dory  that  we're  going  to  see?  Is 
it?" 

Old  Goodwin  smiled  to  himself. 
"Well,  no,  Pukkie.  It  is  n't  your 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       213 

dory.  I  did  n't  manage  that.  But 
it's  something  of  that  nature." 

"Oh,"  said  Pukkie  in  low  tones  of 

disappointment,  "  I  did  n't  know  but 

Old  Goodwin  had  opened  the 

door  at  the  other  side.  "Oh!  What's 

that?" 

Made  fast  to  the  stage  there  lay  a 
perfect  little  sloop  about  twenty  feet 
long  which  seemed  to  be  an  exact  re 
production  in  miniature  of  a  large 
boat.  Every  sail  was  there  which  the 
large  boats  carried,  every  rope  and 
block  and  stay,  although  they  had 
drawn  the  line  at  a  separate  topmast. 
I  realized  at  a  glance  that  there  were 
too  many  ropes  and  blocks  and  stays 
for  her  size.  It  would  take  more  of  a 
crew  to  handle  her  easily  than  she 
could  carry. 

But  Pukkie  realized  nothing  of  the 


214  THE   CLAMMER 

kind.  He  ran  toward  her,  and  stood 
beside  her,  touching  with  a  fearful 
hand  her  smooth  deck,  and  the  pretty 
blocks  and  cleats  of  shining  brass, 
and  smiling. 

There  was  even  a  gangway  ladder, 
and  her  gunwale  not  much  more  than 
a  foot  above  the  water. 

Pukkie  turned  his  shining  face  to 
me. 

"Oh,  daddy,"  he  cried,  "look  at 
her  dear  little  jibs.  Are  n't  they 
cunning?" 

They  were  cunning  and  tiny. 

Old  Goodwin,  simple-hearted  gen 
tleman  that  he  was,  was  as  pleased 
as  Pukkie.  He  seemed  delighted. 

"There  are  other  sails,"  he  said, 
smiling  and  eager.  "  In  the  sail 
locker  you  will  find  a  gafftopsail 
and  a  jibtopsail  and  a  flying  jib. 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE       215 

We  could  n't  very  well  manage  any 
more,"  he  added  to  me. 

"They  are  quite  enough,"  I  re 
turned,  "for  her  size  —  and  for  her 
crew  to  manage." 

"She  is  rather  deep  for  her  length," 
Old  Goodwin  went  on.  "A  boy  can 
stand  straight  in  her  cabin,  and  a 
man  very  nearly.  Go  aboard,  Puk, 
and  see.  Go  down  into  the  cabin." 

So  Pukkie,  excited  and  solemn, 
went  aboard,  stepping  carefully,  and 
opened  the  cabin  doors,  and  disap 
peared.  We  followed  him  on  deck 
and  looked  down.  There  was  a  little 
table  in  the  middle  which  would  fold 
up  out  of  the  way,  and  there  were  two 
small  transoms  with  little  netted 
hammocks  for  the  sleeper's  clothes, 
like  a  sleeping-car.  And  there  was  a 
silver  pitcher  for  ice  water,  and  racks 


2i6  THE   CLAMMER 

for  glasses  and  dishes,  and  shelves 
with  brass  rails  around  them,  and 
lockers  tucked  away  in  every  corner, 
and  a  door  at  the  forward  end  which 
should  have  led  to  the  galley.  Old 
Goodwin  saw  my  look  of  incredulity, 
and  he  smiled. 

"There  is  a  galley,"  he  said,  "al 
though  a  very  small  one.  But  I 
think  a  boy  could  manage  it.  About 
the  size  of  a  cupboard."  Old  Good 
win  pushed  the  slide  farther  back. 
"  We  had  to  put  this  slide  on  her,"  he 
said  apologetically,  "or  there  could 
n't  have  been  a  cabin  of  any  use  to 
anybody.  I  was  sorry." 

I  was  not  sorry.  It  would  help  to 
keep  the  seas  off.  But  Pukkie  took 
one  last  look  around,  drew  one  long, 
quivering  breath,  and  came  up. 

"Oh,  see!"  he  cried. 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE      217 

I  turned  and  looked  where  he  was 
pointing.  There  was  the  little  wheel, 
which  we  had  seen  before;  and  there 
too  was  a  tiny  binnacle  with  its  com 
pass,  cunningly  contrived  to  take  no 
room,  set  just  forward  of  the  wheel. 

"Do  you  like  it,  Pukkie?"  Old 
Goodwin  asked  somewhat  wistfully. 
"  Do  you  think  that  you'll  like  her  as 
well  as  you  would  have  liked  a  dory?" 

"Like  her!"  cried  Pukkie.  "Like 
her!  Oh,  grandfather!" 

And  he  leaped  at  his  grandfather, 
and  seized  him  about  the  neck,  and 
hid  his  face ;  and  Old  Goodwin  patted 
Pukkie's  shoulder,  somewhat  awk 
wardly,  and  smiled  at  Eve  and  me. 
I  wonder  what  is  the  market  value  of 
the  time  that  Old  Goodwin  wastes 
upon  his  grandson. 

Then  Pukkie  would  go  sailing  at 


2i8  THE   CLAMMER 

once.  It  did  not  matter  that  it  was 
time  for  luncheon,  although  my  clock 
that  I  carry  beneath  my  belt  told  me 
that  it  was.  He  was  not  hungry.  It 
did  not  occur  to  him  to  wonder  about 
me,  or  he  would  have  offered  to  get 
me  a  luncheon  in  his  galley.  So  we 
set  forth  to  sail  the  raging  main;  a 
little  sail  of  half  an  hour,  with  Eve 
and  Old  Goodwin  to  see  us  off. 

So  we  set  all  the  little  sails,  but  we 
did  not  get  out  from  the  sail  locker 
that  gaff  topsail  and  the  jibtopsail 
and  that  wonderful  flying  jib.  The 
wind  was  moderately  strong.  And 
we  glided  out  from  Old  Goodwin's 
harbor  with  me  at  the  wheel,  and 
Pukkie  sitting  beside  me  with  shin 
ing  face.  The  little  boat  was  handy, 
and  she  went  about  her  business  with 
no  fuss,  and  the  water  began  to  hiss 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       219 

past  under  her  rail.  And  I  sat  the 
straighter.  Truly,  what  is  luncheon? 

We  passed  some  fishermen  going 
out  —  the  same  way  that  we  were 
going,  and  we  passed  them  as  if  they 
were  at  anchor;  and  they  gazed  in 
amazement  and  I  saw  them  pointing. 
I  headed  for  a  lighter  that  I  saw  dimly 
through  the  light  haze  —  she  was  an 
chored  by  a  wreck,  as  I  chanced  to 
know  —  and  I  gave  up  the  wheel  to 
Pukkie. 

He  had  never  steered  with  a  wheel, 
but  I  undertook  to  teach  him  —  al 
though  the  art  of  steering,  whether 
with  a  wheel  or  with  a  tiller,  cannot 
be  taught.  One  learns  to  steer  by 
feeling.  And  Pukkie  was  alert  and 
anxious  to  learn.  I  told  him  to  keep 
the  boat  headed  for  the  lighter,  at 
which  he  looked  at  me  in  surprise, 


220  THE    CLAMMER 

and  suggested  that  it  might  be  too 
far  to  get  back  in  half  an  hour.  It 
was;  but  I  did  not  tell  him  so. 

Thereafter,  for  some  time,  the  boat 
cut  some  astonishing  capers,  which 
must  have  set  those  fishermen  to 
wondering.  We  passed  the  fish  traps, 
with  men  in  rowboats  busy  with  tak 
ing  in  the  catch ;  and  we  passed  innu 
merable  terns,  or,  rather,  they  passed 
us,  and  they  were  fishing  and  sending 
forth  their  harsh  metallic  cry ;  and  we 
saw  a  pair  of  fishhawks,  and  they  too 
were  fishing.  All  fishing.  Truly,  the 
business  of  the  waters  is  catching  fish. 
And  Pukkie  was  getting  the  hang  of 
the  wheel  and  steering  a  straighter 
course,  so  that  he  could  give  some 
attention  to  other  matters. 

There  were  rocks  which  looked 
like  monsters  just  risen  from  the 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE       221 

deep,  and  with  the  water  washing 
over  their  backs. 

"They  look  like  submarines,"  said 
Pukkie.  "  Don't  they,  daddy?" 

I  explained  to  him  the  appearance 
of  the  back  of  a  modern  submarine; 
but  the  rocks  did  remind  me  of  sub 
marines.  Everything  reminds  me  of 
submarines.  And  we  saw,  afar  off 
upon  the  water,  a  small  gray  speck. 
And  the  speck  grew  until  it  became 
a  motor-boat,  painted  a  dark  gray. 
Why  they  paint  them  a  gray  that  is 
almost  black  is  a  mystery.  There  is 
no  concealment  in  it.  This  motor- 
boat  was  small,  and  was  heading 
right  for  us,  it  seemed. 

"Is  that  a  chaser,  daddy?"  Puk 
kie  seems  to  have  the  jargon  pat. 
Probably  he  learned  it  at  school.  "It 
is  n't  very  fast,  is  it?  It  could  n't 


222  THE   CLAMMER 

catch  a  submarine,  could  it?  It 
would  n't  be  any  use  to  chase  with 
that."  His  words  held  a  depth  of 
scorn.  Always  submarines.  I  can 
not  get  away  from  them.  "Why 
don't  you  go  out  and  chase  them, 
daddy?  I  should  think  you  would 
like  to.  I  would." 

I  am  thankful  that  he  cannot.  I 
gave  him  some  answer  that  seemed 
to  satisfy  him. 

"That  chaser  is  trying  to  meet  us," 
he  resumed.  "Whichever  way  I  go, 
she  goes  too." 

It  did  look  so;  but  it  was  a  small 
boat  and  slow.  I  thought  that  we 
could  beat  her  likely  enough,  if  it 
came  to  a  chase,  but  Pukkie  would 
not  have  it  so.  He  wanted  to  meet 
her,  and  asked  me  to  steer. 

We  met  in  a  few  minutes,  and  the 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE      223 

pleasant-faced  ensign  hailed  me  and 
asked  if  I  had  a  license  or  a  permit  or 
something.  I  knew  nothing  of  any 
permit,  and  I  told  him  so,  and  he 
said  that  they  were  required,  and  we 
had  to  turn  about  and  sail  back 
again.  It  was  just  as  well,  for  we 
were  like  to  be  over  our  half -hour; 
and  we  got  in  well  ahead  of  the 
motor-boat. 

Since  that  day  I  have  been  out  with 
Pukkie  every  afternoon,  for  he  must 
be  taught  to  sail  if  he  has  a  boat. 
He  is  well  used  to  going  with  me  in 
my  dory  and  he  swims  passing  well 
for  a  boy  of  ten.  He  will  be  eleven  in 
October.  And  Elizabeth  has  taken 
him  in  hand.  She  sails  nearly  as  well 
as  she  swims,  and  she  sails  with  him 
nearly  every  morning;  and  some 
times  Eve  and  she  go  with  us  in  the 


224  THE   CLAMMER 

afternoon.  I  feared  a  little  at  first 
to  take  so  many,  for  I]  thought  it 
might  swamp  the  boat ;  but  the  boat 
will  carry  all  she  will  hold. 

I  had  got  to  this  point  in  my  medi 
tations,  and  I  was  well  rested,  and  I 
was  somewhat  cooler  than  I  was ;  and 
my  scythe  rested  against  the  bench 
beside  me,  and  I  gazed  down  the  bay 
at  the  Arcadia,  and  I  wondered  idly 
about  Captain  Fergus.  If  Elizabeth 
was  a  mystery,  he  was  no  less.  He 
did  not  seem  the  sort  of  man  to  be 
sailing  idly  about  in  a  beautiful,  fast 
yacht  when  everybody  else  was  busy 
in  looking  for  something  to  fight; 
everybody  but  Old  Goodwin  and  me, 
and  Old  Goodwin  is  nearly  seventy. 
Fergus  is  a  fighter  if  ever  I  saw  one, 
the  very  kind  of  man  that  would  stick 
out  his  jaw  and  damn  the  torpedoes. 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       225 

Since  Tom  Ellis  is  gone,  I  have  no 
moral  support  against  my  conscience 
—  if  it  is  my  conscience  that  makes 
me  vaguely  uncomfortable  —  except 
the  knowledge  of  Eve's  pacifist  atti 
tude.  I  try  not  to  say  anything  that 
would  give  her  concern,  but  it  is  hard 
sometimes.  It  gets  harder  as  time 
goes  on.  Gardening  is  well  enough, 
but  I  hate  to  be  left  alone  and  gar 
dening.  Gardening  seems  but  a  poor 
occupation  for  a  man  when  other 
matters  are  afoot,  although  it  is  bet 
ter,  perhaps,  than  acting  as  chauf 
feur  for  a  lot  of  naval  officers.  But 
Tom  seems  to  like  it  well  enough,  and 
says  that  he  has  put  himself  entirely 
in  their  hands,  and  does  whatever 
he  is  called  upon  to  do,  without  a 
thought  for  the  morrow,  which  is,  no 
doubt,  the  proper  attitude.  Cecily 


226  THE   CLAMMER 

likes  it  too,  and  spends  most  of  her 
time  in  Newport,  going  to  and  fro  in 
Old  Goodwin's  car.  I  went  over  with 
them  one  day,  and  the  first  thing  my 
eyes  alighted  upon  was  the  Arcadia 
just  come  to  anchor,  and  Captain 
Fergus  landing  at  the  War  College. 
Perhaps  his  conscience  was  too  much 
for  him.  Fergus  is  a  year  or  two 
older  than  I  am,  and  —  confound  it !  — • 
there  is  some  fight  left  in  me  yet.  If 
there  were  only  something  more  than 
phantoms  to  fight !  And  this  frantic 
search  for  what  is  not ! 

I  heard  the  sound  of  a  screen  door 
slamming,  and  looked  around  the 
tree-trunk,  and  saw  Pukkie  running 
over  the  grass  toward  me;  and  be 
hind  him  there  came,  at  a  somewhat 
more  sedate  pace,  Eve  and  Elizabeth. 

"Daddy,"  Pukkie  called  as  soon 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE      227 

as  he  saw  me,  "don't  you  want  to  go 
swimming?  We're  going.  Tidda's 
at  grandmother's." 

Being  indulged,  of  course,  with 
unlimited  cookies  and  raisins  and 
anything  else  she  took  a  fancy  to. 
Grandmothers  have  a  talent  for  in 
dulging,  and  Tidda  has  a  genius  for 
accepting  indulgences. 

"I  do,  Pukkie.  That  is  exactly 
what  I  want.  I  have  been  mowing. 
Is  your  mother  going  swimming? 
You  going  in,  Eve?" 

"Yes,  she's  going."  And  Eve 
smiled  and  nodded. 

So  I  put  my  scythe  in  the  shed, 
and  we  went  down  the  steep  path, 
and  along  the  shore  where  the  water 
lapped  high ;  and  past  my  clam  beds 
to  the  bathhouse  near  the  stone  pier. 
The  bathhouse  is  Old  Goodwin's,  as 


228  THE    CLAMMER 

any  might  guess,  and  the  little  beach 
is  Old  Goodwin's,  and  the  float-stage 
a  little  way  out,  with  its  spring 
board.  It  is  good  bathing  at  that  lit 
tle  beach  only  when  high  water  cov 
ers  the  sand.  Beyond  the  sand  are 
great  pebbles  covered  with  rockweed 
and  barnacles. 

Eve  came  out  hesitating,  her  eyes 
smiling  and  tender  as  she  looked  at 
me;  but  a  dark  green  cap  covered 
her  glorious  hair  except  some  wisps 
which  ever  bother  her  with  their 
straggling,  and  the  sun  shone  upon 
the  wandering  locks  and  framed  her 
head  in  fine  spun  copper. 

"Don't  you  think,  Adam,"  she 
asked  timidly,  "we  might  go  in  here? 
It  is  a  good  tide  —  and  I'm  afraid  I 
can't  manage  the  float." 

Eve  does  not  swim  very  well,  al- 


AND  THE    SUBMARINE       229 

though  confidence  is  all  she  lacks  to 
make  her  a  passable  swimmer.  And 
I  was  quite  willing,  but  Elizabeth 
would  not  hear  of  it,  promising  that 
she  would  look  out  for  Eve;  and  she 
had  us  all  in  the  boat  and  rowing  out 
before  we  could  make  our  objections 
heard. 

And  no  sooner  were  we  well  clear  of 
the  beach,  than  Elizabeth  dived,  and 
when  she  came  up  again , — it  was  some 
distance  that  she  was  under  water  — 
she  called  to  Pukkie.  And  Pukkie, 
with  supreme  confidence  in  Elizabeth, 
stood  up  on  the  seat  and  dived  over 
the  side,  and  swam  beside  her. 

Eve  seemed  to  have  more  confi 
dence  in  Elizabeth  than  she  had  in 
me,  which  is  not  strange,  for  I  have 
observed  that,  in  matters  of  skill  or 
knowledge  or  judgment,  a  woman 


230  THE   CLAMMER 

will  trust  the  veriest  stranger  before 
her  husband,  although  in  this  matter 
of  skill  and  knowledge  Elizabeth  was 
well  past  me. 

So  Eve  trusted  herself  utterly  to 
Elizabeth,  and  she  made  some  pro 
gress  in  her  swimming.  And  we  all 
floundered  about  there  in  the  cool, 
clean  water  until  Elizabeth  said  that 
Eve  was  cold,  and  then  we  all  drew 
ourselves,  dripping,  on  to  the  float, 
and  there,  but  a  little  way  off,  was 
the  Arcadia  anchored,  and  her  sails 
nearly  furled. 

As  I  gazed  at  her  I  thought  I  saw 
something  queer  about  her  topmast 
stays  —  a  little  thing.  It  looked  al 
most  like  aerials  for  wireless.  I  asked 
Elizabeth  about  it. 

She  was  looking  at  it  too,  almost 
with  satisfaction. 


AND   THE  SUBMARINE      231 

"Yes,"  she  said,  "I  see.  It  does 
look  as  if  it  might  be." 

Why  should  she  know?  And  then 
the  tender  put  off  with  Captain  Fer 
gus  and  Bobby  and  made  for  the  land 
ing,  going  rather  close  to  us  huddled 
on  the  float.  They  hailed  us,  Bobby 
very  solemnly,  but  they  did  not  stop. 

There  was  a  light  of  mischief  in 
Eve's  eyes. 

" I'm  going  to  have  Bobby  to  din 
ner  to-night,"  she  whispered. 

"If  he'll  come,"  I  said  in  her  ear. 

"Oh,  he '11  come." 

And  he  did. 

Eve  and  I  were  standing  alone  to 
gether  and  silent  and  hand  in  hand 
upon  the  edge  of  my  bluff,  watching 
while  the  Great  Painter  spread  his 
colors  as  he  was  wont  to  do.  The  still 
waters  were  covered  with  all  manner 


232  THE   CLAMMER 

of  reds  and  purples.  The  grasses  of 
the  little  marsh  below  us  waved  gently 
above  the  shining  mud,  and  now  and 
then  there  broke  a  wave  that  ran  in 
among  the  grass  stems  in  ripples  of 
color,  and  left  the  wet  mud  glistening 
in  a  coat  of  shimmering  green,  and 
set  the  grass  waving  anew. 

As  we  stood  there  looking  down, 
Bobby  came  silently  and  stood  be 
side  us,  and  breathed  a  long  sigh, 
and  gazed  for  a  long  time.  Then  he 
looked  at  Eve  and  smiled. 

"Lovely,"  he  said,  "and  peaceful. 
For  the  matter  of  that,  it  would  be 
hard  to  find  a  more  peaceful-looking 
place  than  the  lightship  —  in  good 
weather." 

"Then,  Bobby,"  I  said,  "I  take 
it  that  not  many  periscopes  have 
fallen  to  your  bow  and  spear." 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE      233 

He  shook  his  head.  "I'm  dis 
gusted.  I  'm  beginning  to  think  that 
the  Germans  have  no  submarines, 
and  that  all  these  tales  are  fables. 
Your  traps,  Adam,  are  no  good.  I  'd 
just  like  to  get  a  chance  to  go  across 
to  the  North  Sea  or  Ireland  or  the 
Channel.  I'll  tell  you  in  strict  con 
fidence  —  we  have  been  warned  not 
to  talk  about  these  things  —  a  mine 
sweeper  went  to  Boston  a  few  days 
ago,  on  the  way  over.  Nobody  knows 
when  she  will  leave  Boston.  I  was 
greatly  tempted  to  try  for  a  place  on 
her.  But  I'll  get  there  yet." 

"No  doubt  there  would  be  oc 
cupation  for  idle  hands  over  there. 
But  what  has  become  of  Ogilvie? 
We  have  not  seen  him  since  the 
clambake." 
-  "He's  busy.  He's  going  over  — 


234  THE   CLAMMER 

to  go  on  a  chaser.  Lucky  chap!  He 
had  his  orders  that  very  morning. 
Waiting  for  the  chaser.  But  I'd  be 
tried  for  high  treason  if  you  were  to 
tell  anybody  —  even  Miss  Radnor, 
for  instance." 

I  had  turned  about,  and  there  was 
Elizabeth.  She  must  have  heard  it 
all,  for  she  turned  pale,  and  the  light 
in  her  eyes  went  out  suddenly,  leav 
ing  them  cold  as  stones.  It  was  a 
pity. 

She  came  forward  slowly.  "Why 
are  you  afraid  of  me,  Mr.  Lever- 
ett?" 

"Afraid  of  you?"  asked  Bobby  in 
surprise.  "  I  am  not.  Why  should  I 
be?"  It  was  a  challenge.  "We  have 
been  warned  to  be  cautious." 

"It  was  not  I  who  was  incautious," 
said  Elizabeth. 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE      235 

Bobby  smiled,  and  his  smile  was 
not  pleasant  to  see,  but  he  spoke  in  a 
faultless  manner. 

"You  are  never  incautious,"  he 
said.  "Trust  you  for  that." 

Then  Pukkie  came  running,  with 
Tidda  after  him,  and  they  pitched 
upon  Bobby  and  created  a  diversion, 
which  we  welcomed. 

Our  dinner  was  not  a  success,  as 
may  well  be  imagined.  Elizabeth  was 
cold  and  silent,  which  was  not  like 
her.  We  had  come  to  know  Eliza 
beth  pretty  well,  and  we  liked  her; 
and  we  knew  Bobby  very  well,  and 
we  liked  him.  And  it  is  unpleas 
ant  and  awkward  when  people  whom 
you  like  and  who  like  each  other  — 
I  knew  it  well  enough  —  speak  to 
gether  little  and  look  upon  one  an 
other  with  hostility  which  is  but  ill 


236  THE   CLAMMER 

concealed.  And,  dinner  over,  we  with 
drew  to  our  candles,  but  Elizabeth 
went  up  with  Tidda,  and  Pukkie  fol 
lowed  her.  Bobby  laughed  mirth 
lessly  at  that,  and  muttered  some 
thing.  It  sounded  to  me  like  "latest 
victim." 

We  had  a  pleasant  but  short  eve 
ning  with  Bobby,  and  he  left  early, 
making  an  excuse  of  duty.  As  we 
turned  away  we  encountered  Eliza 
beth,  who  murmured  that  she  had 
just  got  the  children  to  sleep,  and 
said  that  she  was  going  out  for  a  few 
minutes. 

"  I  was  glad  to  hear  that  news  of 
Jack,"  she  said.  "To  say  truth,  I 
have  known  it  for  a  long  time.  Jack 
told  me."  Truly,  she  was  not  in 
cautious.  "  It  will  settle  the  yeogirl. 
That  was  a  joke,  he  wrote  me.  But, 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE      237 

whether  it  was  or  not,  it  will  settle 
her." 

"And  Olivia?"   Tasked. 

"  Olivia  is  settled  already.  She  has 
gone  home." 


238  THE   CLAMMER 


VIII 

INDEED,  a  conscience  is  a  most 
distressing  comrade.  And,  albeit 
a  conscience  is  not  for  a  fisherman, — 
he  cannot  afford  it,  —  a  clammer  may 
be  pricked  and  stabbed  and  plagued 
by  that  he  would  willingly  get  rid  of. 
For  I  suppose  it  was  my  conscience 
that  impelled  me  to  buy  —  in  secret, 
for  I  would  not  have  Eve  know  of 
it  lest  it  give  her  anxiety  —  a  little 
card  with  two  revolving  discs  and 
pictures  of  a  signalman  in  every  po 
sition  that  is  possible  to  a  signal 
man. 

By  diligent  use  of  that  card  and 
much  practice  in  the  proper  manner 
of  waving  my  arms  I  hoped  to  make 
myself  duly  proficient  in  the  art  of 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE       239 

signalling   by   the  wigwag   method. 

I  found  the  card  at  a  nautical  in 
strument  store  in  the  city  on  the  day 
after  our  dinner ;  and  as  I  looked  at  it 
somewhat  doubtfully,  the  clerk  pulled 
out  a  little  book  that  gave  the  matter 
more  at  length.  I  bought  them  both, 
and  I  have  been  practising  the  mo 
tions  for  a  week  in  secret.  And  that 
has  its  difficulties  too,  that  I  do  it  in 
secret,  for  if  I  practised  in  the  house 
it  was  not  secret,  nor  was  it  secret  in 
my  garden  or  in  the  hayfield  or  on 
my  bluff.  At  last  I  hit  upon  that 
little  clump  of  trees.  No  one  could 
see  me  there. 

To-day  being  the  Fourth  of  July, 
I  thought  it  fit  that  I  practise  more 
diligently  than  usual.  So,  having 
gathered  my  first  peas,  a  generous 
mess  of  them,  I  repaired  to  the  clump 


240  THE   CLAMMER 

of  trees;  and  having  propped  the 
book  upon  a  branch  and  hung  the 
card  upon  a  twig,  I  began.  But  no 
sooner  had  I  got  to  work  at  it  than 
somebody  came  running  out  of  the 
house,  softly  calling,  "  Adam !  Adam ! ' ' 
It  was  the  voice  of  Eve,  and  she  was 
waving  a  paper,  for  I  could  hear  it 
rustling.  And  I  swept  the  book  off 
its  branch  and  the  card  from  its  twig, 
tearing  the  card  in  my  haste,  and  I 
stepped  from  my  hiding-place  on  to 
the  bluff,  so  that  I  should  seem  to  be 
but  gazing  out  over  the  water,  as  is 
my  wont. 

I  was  just  putting  the  book  and 
the  card  in  my  pocket  when  Eve 
came  upon  me,  but  she  was  so  intent 
that  she  did  not  notice.  The  paper 
that  she  had  is  published  in  the  near 
est  city,  and  it  is  a  good  paper,  a 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE      241 

better  paper  than  any  published  in 
Boston.  It  suits  me  even  better  than 
the  London  "  Times,"  to  which  I  sub 
scribe,  for  although  the  "  Times  "  has 
the  war  news  in  greater  detail  than 
we  have  it,  it  is  usually  three  weeks 
old;  and  news  which  one  has  read 
three  weeks  before  is  old  enough  to 
have  been  forgotten. 

She  held  the  paper  up  before  my 
eyes. 

"See,  Adam,"  she  said.  "Here  is 
good  news  for  the  Fourth.  Our  trans 
ports  have  beaten  the  submarines, 
great  flocks  of  them,  and  have  sunk 
some  of  them,  and  they  have  arrived 
safely,  every  ship  and  every  man." 

I  smiled  at  her  enthusiasm.  "That 
should  be  good  news.  To  be  sure, 
the  submarines  that  were  sunk  car 
ried  their  crews  down  with  them  to  be 


242  THE   CLAMMER 

drowned  like  rats  in  a  trap,  and  we 
used  to  think  that  Germans  were 
pretty  good  - 

"Good!"  she  cried.  "When  they 
have  committed  so  many  murders 
on  the  sea!" 

"Well,  these  Germans  will  commit 
no  more  murders.  Let  me  see  your 
paper." 

There  it  was  in  great  staring  lines 
of  type  before  my  eyes.  I  had  but 
just  digested  the  headlines,  and  was 
preparing  to  read  the  solid  columns 
when  Eve  snatched  it  away. 

"  I  can't  wait  for  you  to  read  it  all. 
I  want  to  show  it  to  father." 

There  was  probably  nothing  there 
that  Old  Goodwin  did  not  know  al 
ready.  He  has  a  way  of  knowing 
things;  but  I  said  nothing  of  it.  I 
smiled  again  at  Eve,  and  let  her  go. 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       243 

"Adam, "she  said  anxiously,  turn 
ing  back,  "you  wouldn't  commit 
murders  on  the  sea,  would  you?  you 
could  n't  persuade  yourself  that  it 
was  right?" 

"Well,"  I  answered  gravely,  "I 
have  none  in  contemplation,  but  I 
have  not  given  the  matter  much  con 
sideration.  If  I  were  sailing  the  high 
seas,  and  were  to  meet  —  also  sail 
ing  the  raging  main  —  Sands  and  his 
talking  machine,  I  might  — " 

Eve  laughed.  "Yes,  you  might." 
And  she  came  back  and  kissed  me. 
"You're  no  sort  of  a  murderer." 

"You  don't  know,  Eve,"  I  pro 
tested,  "what  sort  of  a  murderer  I 
might  be.  I  would  not  boast,  and  I 
speak  in  all  modesty,  but  I  try 
to  do  as  well  as  I  can  whatever  I 
set  my  hand  to.  I  venture  to  say 


244  THE    CLAMMER 

that  I  should  do  my  murdering  thor 
oughly." 

She  laughed  again,  merrily,  and 
again  she  kissed  me. 

"The  murdering  that  you  will  do 
will  not  amount  to  that."  And  she 
snapped  her  fingers.  "Jack  Ogilvie 
is  like  to  do  more  of  it,  —  if  you  call 
that  murder."  She  sighed  and  turned 
away.  "Now  I  will  go." 

And  she  was  gone  down  the  steep 
path  and  along  the  shore,  stopping 
now  and  then  to  wave  at  me.  It 
hurt  me  somewhat  not  to  go  with  her, 
but  I  must  be  at  my  signalling. 

So,  as  soon  as  Eve  was  out  of  sight 
in  the  greenery,  I  began  again,  stand 
ing  on  the  bluff  where  I  was,  an  im 
prudent  thing  to  do.  I  laid  my  book 
and  my  card  upon  the  ground,  and 
began  to  wave  my  arms  gently, 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       245 

stooping  now  and  then  to  the  book 
to  be  sure  that  I  had  it  right,  and 
saying  the  names  of  the  letters  to 
myself  as  I  waved.  For  each  letter 
has  a  name  in  the  signal  book.  And 
as  I  waved,  I  thought  upon  Eve's  sigh 
that  she  had  sighed  as  she  turned 
away,  and  it  seemed  almost  as  if  she 
were  sorry  that  I  was  not  as  Ogilvie ; 
but  that  could  not  be  that  she  would 
have  me  go,  for  had  she  not  said 
other?  And,  without  knowing  what 
I  was  doing,  I  proclaimed  it  to  the 
world.  "  Eve  would  have  me  murder," 
was  the  sentence  I  was  signalling. 
"Eve  would  have  me  murder  on  the 
sea  even  as  Ogilvie."  I  was  even 
shouting  the  names  of  the  letters  by 
this.  And  I  looked  and  there  was  a 
big  gray  motor-boat  just  without  the 
harbor,  and  Ogilvie  himself  standing 


246  THE    CLAMMER 

up  on  her  deck  and  watching  me  — 
and  wondering,  I  had  no  doubt. 

The  motor-boat  came  on  swiftly, 
and  Ogilvie  watched  me  as  if  he 
thought  I  had  gone  daft,  while  I,  out 
of  bravado  I  fear,  signalled  again 
that  message  about  Eve,  no  better 
than  a  lie.  And  directly  opposite  my 
bluff  the  motor-boat  came  to  a  stop, 
and  Ogilvie  began  to  wave  his  arms, 
so  that  any  that  saw  might  well 
think  there  were  two  madmen  in  the 
harbor.  And  to  my  delight,  I  could 
read  it,  and  read  it  easily.  It  was  a 
brief  message,  it  is  true.  "What!" 
said  Ogilvie  with  his  waving  arms. 
"Repeat." 

I  did  not  repeat,  but  I  sent  him 
another  message.  "Come  up  here 
and  I  will  explain.  I  am  practising. 
Give  me  some  more." 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       247 

So  he  gave  me  more,  and  I  could 
read  it,  although  his  messages  were 
not  simple.  It  filled  my  soul  with  an 
unreasonable  joy,  as  a  boy's  when  he 
finds  that  he  has  mastered  at  school 
some  task  which  he  thought  that  he 
had  not.  And  we  waved  our  arms  at 
each  other,  two  gone  clean  crazy,  for 
a  long  time,  and  Ogilvie  smiled  more 
and  more,  until  at  last  he  laughed. 

"Well  done,"  he  signalled.  "I  will 
be  there  in  half  an  hour." 

And  the  motor-boat  started  again, 
and  I  turned,  smiling,  well  pleased 
with  myself,  and  there  sat  Eve  on  the 
bench  under  the  pine,  and  she  was 
laughing. 

"Adam,"  she  said,  "come  here 
and  sit  beside  me,  and  explain.  Oh, 
bring  your  book."  For  in  my  awk 
wardness  I  was  leaving  it  there  on 


248  THE    CLAMMER 

the  grass.  "I  saw  it.  I  have  been 
watching  you." 

And  I  turned  meekly  as  that  same 
boy  at  school  caught  in  some  mis 
chief,  and  I  went  and  sat  beside  her, 
but  I  did  not  explain. 

"Where  is  Elizabeth?"   Tasked. 

"Elizabeth,"  she  said,  "has  gone 
sailing  with  Pukkie.  You  might  have 
known  it.  Now,  what  were  you  doing, 
and  why  were  you  doing  it?" 

I  have  found  the  truth  to  serve  me 
best,  and  I  would  not  tell  Eve  other 
than  the  truth  in  any  littlest  thing. 
So  I  told  her  all,  and  showed  her  the 
matter  all  set  forth  in  the  book.  And 
she  was  interested  and  pleased,  and 
would  learn  wigwagging  herself. 

"You  must  teach  me,  Adam,"  she 
said,  "and  we  will  do  it  together." 

And    that    pleased    me    mightily, 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       249 

that  we  do  it  together.  And  she 
clasped  my  arm  in  both  her  hands, 
and  bent  forward  and  looked  up  into 
my  face.  And  in  her  eyes  as  she 
looked  was  even  greater  tenderness 
than  was  wont  to  be,  and  that  was  a 
marvel ;  and  there  was  a  great  joy  too. 

"Tell  me,  Adam,"  she  said  softly. 
"Why  did  you  do  it?  What  set  you 
at  it?" 

"The  nature  that  God  gave  me," 
I  said,  "or  conscience,  which  is  the 
same  thing.  I  do  not  know.  It  —  it 
is  hard,  Eve,  to  be  forty- three  when 
one  would  be  twenty-three  —  for  a 
reason.  As  for  the  signalling,"  I 
added,  "that  is  nothing  much,  save 
that  we  be  learning  it  together." 

"  I  know, "she  said.  "A  symptom." 

I  did  not  know  what  she  meant, 
whether  my 'conscience  or  the  signal- 


250  THE    CLAMMER 

ling.  But  still  she  was  looking  up  at 
me  with  joy  in  her  eyes,  and  happi 
ness;  and  she  gave  a  little  soft  cry 
and  a  little  happy  laugh,  and  she 
squeezed  my  arm  between  her  hands. 

"Oh,  Adam,  Adam!"  she  cried 
low.  "  I  love  you  —  you  don't  know 
how  much.  And  I  don't  wish  that 
/  was  twenty-three.  Do  you  know 
why?" 

I  could  not  guess. 

"At  twenty- three  I  was  not  mar 
ried,"  said  Eve.  "I  did  not  even 
know  you." 

What  I  did  then  any  may  guess. 
No  doubt  it  was  imprudent  too.  And 
we  were  once  more  sitting  decorous, 
and  about  Eve's  lips  and  in  her  eyes 
was  that  smile  of  joy  and  happiness. 

"You  will  see,  Adam,"  she  said. 
"  It  will  all  come  right." 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       251 

"What  will  come  right?"  asked  a 
voice.  "  Is  anything  wrong?" 

And  we  turned,  and  there  was  Jack 
Ogilvie. 

"  I  do  not  know  what  Eve  meant," 
I  answered  him,  "unless  she  referred 
to  my  signalling.  No  doubt  that  is 
wrong  enough." 

He  shook  his  head.  "Nothing 
wrong  about  that.  You  do  it  very 
well." 

Then  I  asked  him  for  the  latest 
news  from  the  seat  of  war. 

"Well,"  he  said,  "we  are  forbidden 
to  tell  the  news,  although  there  is  n't 
any.  But  if  you  were  to  go  to  New 
port  you  would  see  a  big  British  cruiser 
lying  there.  And  if  you  had  your  glass 
with  you  you  could  read  her  name." 
He  gave  her  name,  but  I  have  for 
gotten  it.  "It  is  supposed  to  be  a 


252  THE   CLAMMER 

secret,  and  has  not  been  in  the  papers, 
but  everybody  at  Newport  knows  it. 
They  can't  help  it.  The  officers  go 
about  very  swagger  and  very  stiff, 
carrying  little  canes.  You  may  see 
me  carrying  a  little  cane  one  of  these 
days,  but  I  have  not  yet  arrived  at 
that  dignity  —  or  folly,  whichever 
you  call  it." 

I  smiled.  "Did  you  never  carry  a 
little  cane  in  college?" 

"Oh,  sometimes,  for  the  sake  of 
doing  it,  because  I  had  a  right  to. 
But  this  is  real." 

"When  you  come  back  from  Eng 
land,  or  France,  or  wherever  you  are 
going,  perhaps  you  will  carry  a  cane." 
He  seemed  startled,  but  only  for  a 
moment. 

"What  makes  you  think  I  am  go 
ing  over?" 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE       253 

"Bobby  told  us  —  in  confidence. 
When?" 

He  seemed  relieved.  "  If  Bobby  told 
you  that  lets  me  out.  I  was  afraid 
I  might  have  dropped  it  somehow.  I 
don't  know  when,  but  soon,  I  think." 

"Jack,"  said  Eve  suddenly  —  it 
was  the  first  time  I  had  heard  her 
call  Ogilvie  Jack — "Jack,  we  will 
have  a  clambake  for  a  farewell.  I 
hope  they  will  give  you  some  days' 
notice  of  your  going." 

"Thank  you,"  he  returned,  smil 
ing.  "It  is  more  likely  to  be  hours' 
notice.  But  I  will  come  to  your  clam 
bake  if  I  can." 

"And  can  you  bring,"  Eve  asked, 
"your  yeogirl?  I  invite  her,  and  ask 
you  to  deliver  the  invitation." 

He  laughed  suddenly.  "My  yeo 
girl  —  did  you  hear  she  was  a  joke? 


254  THE   CLAMMER 

She  is  a  real  girl,  but  I  don't  know 
her,  and  I  could  n't  bring  her  over 
here,  —  or  anywhere.  No,  I  'm  afraid 
you  will  have  to  get  somebody  else  to 
deliver  the  invitation.  How  would 
Mr.  Wales  do?  —  or  Bobby?" 

"Jimmy  has  a  wife,  my  cousin." 

"Yes,  I  know.  But  Bobby  — he 
has  n't  any." 

"Poor  Bobby  would  be  in  great 
er  trouble  than  ever.  Besides,  he 
would  n't  do  it.  Bobby  has  developed 
a  nasty  temper  lately.  I  wanted  the 
yeogirl  for  you,  and  if  you  don't  want 
her  —  I  am  sorry  Olivia  has  gone." 

"Olivia  would  never  do  for  me," 
he  said,  shaking  his  head.  "  I  guess 
I  shall  have  to  devote  myself  to  the 
clams  —  or  to  Elizabeth." 

"You  might  do  worse,  young  man," 
I  said  severely. 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE      255 

"I  might,"  he  assented.  "In  fact 
I  have  done  worse." 

I  did  not  know  whether  he  referred 
to  the  clams  or  to  Elizabeth;  but  it 
was  true  in  either  case.  And  he  said 
nothing  more,  and  thereupon  a  si 
lence  fell,  which  is  no  misfortune  and 
no  embarrassment  when  the  people 
are  suited  to  it.  I  had  been  seeing 
Pukkie's  yacht  for  some  time,  and 
she  had  just  disappeared  behind  Old 
Goodwin's  pier.  And  she  had  three 
people  in  her,  when  I  supposed  she 
carried  only  Elizabeth  and  Pukkie. 
I  mentioned  it  to  Eve,  who  was  as 
much  surprised  as  I ;  and  we  watched 
the  pier  and  the  shore. 

And  presently  we  saw  coming 
along  the  shore,  where  the  little 
waves  were  breaking,  three  figures. 
The  figures  were  those  of  Elizabeth 


256  THE   CLAMMER 

and  Pukkie  —  of  those  two  I  was 
certain  —  and  the  third  looked  like 
Bobby.  I  had  to  look  several  times 
before  I  was  sure  of  him.  He  was 
walking  beside  Elizabeth,  and  his 
attitude  betokened  a  strange  mix 
ture  of  devotion  and  distaste.  As  I 
looked  again  I  saw  that  Elizabeth 
and  Pukkie  had  been  recently  wet 
—  very  wet  —  and  they  were  not 
yet  dry.  Bobby  was  not  wet.  The 
inference  was  obvious:  Elizabeth 
and  Pukkie  had  been  overboard,  and 
Bobby  had  not.  But  where  had  Bob 
by  come  from?  Eve  and  I  hurried 
down  the  steep  path,  and  met  them 
at  its  foot. 

Elizabeth  raised  her  eyes  to  me, 
and  I  saw  two  deep  pools  under  a 
summer  sun,  and  all  manner  of  col 
ors  played  over  them,  concealing  the 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE      257 

depths.  Then  for  an  instant  the  lights 
were  quenched  that  concealed  the 
depths,  and  her  eyes  became  as  two 
dark  wells  with  yet  a  sort  of  light  il 
lumining  the  darkness,  and  there  I 
saw  content,  but  not  satisfaction  — 
if  those  two  can  be  reconciled.  It 
was  for  but  an  instant,  and  then  the 
lights  came  back,  and  her  eyes  danced, 
and  she  laughed  at  me. 

"Are  you  wondering,"  she  asked, 
"what  has  happened  to  us,  and  what 
Bobby  Leverett  is  doing  here?" 

"It  is  easy  to  guess,"  I  answered, 
"that  you  and  Pukkie  have  been 
overboard,  although  why  you  should 
go  in  swimming  in  all  your  clothes 
is  another  matter.  But  I  must  con 
fess  to  some  wonder  about  that  mat 
ter  standing  fidgeting  there."  And  I 
pointed  an  accusing  finger  at  Bobby. 


258  THE   CLAMMER 

Bobby  was  ill  at  ease,  and  strug 
gling  between  the  constraint  that  was 
upon  him  and  a  wish  to  tell  his  tale. 

"Well,  you  see,  Adam,"  he  began, 
"I  —  we  were  cruising  — " 

"Who,"  I  asked,  interrupting,  "is 
'we'?" 

"Bobby,"  said  Elizabeth  quietly, 
"you'd  better  let  me  tell  it  first. 
Puk  and  I,"  she  continued,  address 
ing  Eve  and  me,  "were  sailing  along 
too  calmly,  and  he  wanted  to  put  up 
the  gafftopsail.  So  he  got  it  out,  and 
ran  with  it,  and  he  caught  his  foot  in 
some  of  the  superfluous  ropes  and 
blocks,  and  went  overboard  —  top 
sail  and  all.  I  was  afraid  he  might  be 
tangled  in  the  sail,  so  I  let  all  the 
halliards  go  on  the  run,  and  I  went 
after  him.  I  got  him,  and  saved  the 
sail,  and  there  was  a  boat  from  the 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE      259 

Rattlesnake,  with  Bobby.  He  helped 
us  on  board  again,  and  insisted  upon 
coming  with  us." 

Bobby  again  opened  his  mouth  to 
speak. 

"One  moment,  Bobby,"  I  said. 
"Tell  me,  Elizabeth,  did  the  Rattle 
snake  spring  so  suddenly?" 

She  smiled  and  glanced  at  Bobby. 
"Oh,  we  had  seen  her  before.  That 
was  why  Puk  was  wanting  the  top 
sail.  He  wanted  to  see  if  we  could 
beat  her." 

"Oh,"  said  I,  and  I  looked  at 
Bobby,  who  squirmed  as  a  cater 
pillar  on  a  stick. 

"We  happened  to  be  near,"  he  said. 
He  spoke  calmly  enough,  but  I  saw 
that  he  was  very  uncomfortable.  "I 
thought  I  ought  to  come,  for  Pukkie 
was  very  wet,  and  I  wanted  to  be 


260  THE   CLAMMER 

sure  he  was  all  right.  Miss  Radnor 
had  rather  a  nasty  time  getting  him 
clear  of  that  sail." 

"Bobby!"  said  Elizabeth  warning- 
ly.  And  suddenly  she  smiled  as  if  she 
was  much  amused  at  something,  per 
haps  at  Bobby. 

"Bobby,"  said  Eve  softly,  "it  was 
very  good  of  you.  Did  Elizabeth 
save  Pukkie's  life?" 

"I'm  not  sure,"  Bobby  answered 
slowly,  "that  Pukkie's  life  was  in 
danger,  but  I  'm  not  sure  that  it  was 
not." 

Eve  clasped  Pukkie  to  her,  wet 
as  he  was.  I  would  have  done  the 
same. 

"Bobby,"  Eve  said  again,  looking 
up  at  him,  "was  there  no  one  else 
that  was  very  wet?  I'm  ashamed  of 
you."  She  had  spoken  low. 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE      261 

"  Er  —  you  see,"  Bobby  answered 
wriggling,  "  I  knew  very  well  that 
Eliz  —  Miss  Radnor  would  be  all 
right.  She  is — er — very  competent." 

And  Elizabeth  laughed  at  him  and 
dropped  a  curtsey.  "Thank  you," 
she  said. 

Bobby  was  struggling  with  his  de 
sire  to  smile  and  with  his  dignity. 

"I've  got  to  get  back  somehow," 
he  said.  "Hello,  there's  Ogilvie." 
Ogilvie  had  been  standing  in  plain 
sight  at  the  top  of  the  bluff.  "He 
can  take  me  —  that  is,  if  you  can 
spare  him."  He  beckoned  to  him, 
and  Ogilvie  came  down.  "You'll 
have  to  take  me  out,  Jack." 

Ogilvie  grinned  and  saluted,  and 
they  started  off  together.  But  they 
had  gone  only  a  few  steps  when 
Bobby  turned. 


26a  THE   CLAMMER 

"  I  almost  forgot  to  say  good-bye." 

He  smiled  unhappily,  and  was  turn 
ing  back,  but  Elizabeth  ran  to  him 
and  held  out  her  hand. 

"You  can  be  on  your  dignity  if 
you  like,  Bobby,"  she  whispered,  not 
so  low  but  that  I  heard  it,  "but  I'm 
not  going  to  be.  Good-bye,  and  thank 
you." 

And  Bobby  had  taken  the  hand 
that  she  held  out.  He  held  it  for 
a  long  time,  but  said  nothing  that 
I  could  hear,  but  only  looked.  And 
he  relinquished  her  hand  —  actually 
flung  it  from  him  —  and  strode  away 
after  Ogilvie.  And  Elizabeth  came 
back  to  us  quietly,  but  her  eyes  shone 
and  she  was  smiling. 

"Now,"  she  said,  "Puk  and  I  will 
get  on  some  dry  clothes.  You  may 
as  well  rub  him,  Eve." 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE      263 

It  must  have  been  a  narrower 
escape  than  Elizabeth  would  admit. 
As  we  ascended  the  steep  path,  I 
thought  upon  the  manner  of  journey 
that  would  have  been  if  there  had 
been  no  escape  at  all.  Pukkie,  my 
dearly  beloved  son!  And  I  reached 
forward  and  hugged  him,  and  for  the 
rest  of  the  way  my  arm  lay  along  his 
shoulders. 

That  night  we  heard  firing  from 
the  fort,  perhaps  a  dozen  shots.  We 
hear  that  firing  every  few  nights. 
Eve  and  I  looked  out  —  we  were  just 
going  to  bed  —  and  saw  the  flashes 
against  the  sky  above  the  trees,  and 
heard  the  sound  as  if  cannon  balls 
were  being  dropped  on  the  floor  over 
our  heads.  Eve  wondered  what  it 
was,  and  I  told  her  it  was  probably 
some  tug  trying  to  go  in  or  out  of  the 


264  THE   CLAMMER 

harbor  to  the  east  of  us  at  a  forbid 
den  time. 

"Oh, "she said, relieved, "  I  thought 
that  it  might  be  submarines — or  fire 
works." 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE      265 


IX 

IT  was  on  a  Saturday  morning 
about  the  middle  of  July,  and  it 
had  been  foggy;  and  I  had  watched 
the  fog  retreating  stealthily,  with 
drawing  one  long  vaporous  arm  and 
then  another,  slinking  back  like  a 
wraith  before  the  sun,  as  if  trying 
to  get  away  unperceived.  There  was 
no  writhing  and  twisting  in  the  an 
guish  of  defeat  and  dissolution,  no 
jets  and  shreds  vanishing  into  the 
hot  air  above.  But  the  ways  of  the 
fog  over  the  sea  are  a  mystery,  and 
I  am  not  yet  at  the  end  of  them. 

I  had  gone  over  to  Old  Goodwin's 
to  take  my  daughter,  and  I  had  left 
her  with  one  of  the  army  of  starched 
and  stiff  imitations  of  men  in  but- 


266  THE   CLAMMER 

tons  who  haunt  the  house.  They 
guard  every  door,  so  that  a  man  can 
not  so  much  as  turn  a  handle  for  him 
self;  and  one  is  to  be  found  in  each 
passage,  and  at  every  turn.  They 
might  be  wooden  images  from  a 
Noah's  Ark,  endowed  with  move 
ment,  but  not  with  life.  There  are 
not  so  many  of  them  as  there  were 
some  years  ago.  They  are  none  of 
Old  Goodwin's  doing,  and  Mrs.  Good 
win  has  somewhat  lost  her  fancy  for 
them;  and  some  of  them,  Old  Good 
win  told  me,  have  enlisted.  Fancy! 
Those  men  in  buff  uniform  and  many 
buttons  enlisting!  But  they  will  be 
well  used  to  wearing  a  uniform,  and 
they  will  be  well  used  to  doing  with 
out  question  what  they  are  told  to 
do,  and  to  keeping  their  faces  like 
masks.  They  will  make  good  soldiers 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE      267 

I  have  no  doubt,  and  they  may  be  in 
France  at  this  moment. 

The  buttons  who  admitted  us  was 
not  so  very  starched  and  stiff,  and  he 
seemed  to  have  been  endowed  with 
life  as  well  as  movement,  and  to  have 
become  actually  a  human  being.  For 
he  smiled  when  he  saw  my  daughter, 
and  spoke  pleasantly  to  her,  so  that  I 
was  persuaded  that  he  was  even  glad 
to  see  her.  And  she,  having  thrown 
him  some  pleasantry,  and  a  smile 
with  it,  dashed  past  him  through  the 
great  hall  and  vanished.  And  he, 
still  smiling,  closed  the  door  upon  me, 
and  I  went  in  search  of  Old  Good 
win,  who  deals  not  in  uniforms  and 
buttons. 

I  found  him  on  that  part  of  his 
piazza  where  stands  the  great  tele 
scope  on  its  massive  tripod.  Before 


268  THE   CLAMMER 

him  there  lay  his  ocean  steamer  at 
anchor,  and  he  gazed  at  her  steadily 

—  but  not  through  the  telescope. 
He  turned  his  head  as  I  came,  and 

gave  me  his  quiet  smile  of  peace. 

"Good-morning,  Adam,"  he  said. 
"  I  was  just  wishing  that  you  would 
come." 

Old  Goodwin  with  his  quiet  smile 

—  even  in  his  clammer's  clothes  and 
his  old  stained  rubber  boots  —  is  yet 
Goodwin  the  Rich.   It  is  a  marvel. 

"Good-morning,"  I  said.  "And 
here  I  am  to  do  with  what  you  will  — 
for  the  space  of  some  hours." 

"It  may  take  some  hours,"  he  re 
turned,  "and  it  may  be  done  in  less." 

I  did  not  in  the  least  know  what 
he  was  talking  about,  but  I  was  to 
find  out.  He  was  silent  for  some 
while. 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE      269 

"Any  news  lately?"  he  asked  then. 

"War  news,  I  suppose  you  mean," 
I  said,  "and  submarines.  Nothing 
that  you  have  not  seen;  a  submarine 
in  Hampton  Roads  about  a  week  ago. 
But  that  report  was  in  all  the  papers. 
No  doubt  Jimmy  has  given  you  later 
news." 

"  I  believe  that  all  boats  were  sent 
out  from  Newport  in  a  hurry  last 
Sunday.  I  have  heard  nothing  since. 
I  wonder,"  he  continued,  smiling,  "if 
whales  have  not  something  to  do  with 
these  reports — or  sharks.  I  hear  that 
there  has  been  a  great  slaughter  of 
whales  in  the  North  Sea  in  the  last 
three  years." 

"Whales  have  no  periscopes." 

"They  may  yet  develop  them  in 
self-defence  if  this  keeps  on  long 
enough.  But  I  would  not  cast  doubt. 


270  THE   CLAMMER 

You  see  my  boat  out  there.  What  do 
you  think  of  the  color?" 

She  was  all  gray,  and  has  been  so 
for  some  time. 

"  Why,  it  is  a  good  color  if  you  like 
it.  She  looks  like  a  lump  of  lead.  I 
cannot  see  why  the  navy  does  not 
paint  its  ships  some  lighter  shade, 
with  streaks  of  greens  and  blues  and 
purples  and  some  white  here  and 
there.  Those  are  the  colors  that  the 
water  shows,  although  the  water  is 
of  a  different  color  in  every  different 
light.  But  I  would  be  willing  to 
guarantee  that  I  could  do  better  than 
that  —  much  better." 

He  looked  at  me  thoughtfully. 
"That  is  worth  thinking  of,  Adam.  I 
am  sure  you  could  do  better.  You 
could  n't  do  much  worse  if  the  idea  is 
concealment."  He  chuckled.  "You 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE      271 

know  the  water  and  its  colors.  How 
would  you  like  to  do  it?" 

"Why,  I  don't  know,"  I  said  slow 
ly.  "I  have  never  thought  of  it.  The 
fact  is,"  I  blurted  out,  and  choked 
upon  my  words.  Why  should  I  con 
fess  to  Old  Goodwin  what  I  had  been 
unwilling  to  confess  to  myself?  But 
the  impulse  was  too  strong.  'The 
fact  is,"  I  began  again  more  quietly, 
"  I  am  not  satisfied.  I  cannot  be  con 
tent  to  till  the  ground  —  which  any 
Western  Islander  could  do  as  well  or 
better  —  and  to  moon  upon  my  bluff 
when  every  one  I  know  is  doing  more. 
Could  you?" 

He  smiled  and  shook  his  head.  "  I 
could  not  in  your  place.  But  come 
out  to  my  boat  with  me.  I  want 
to  show  you  the  changes  I  have 
made." 


272  THE  CLAMMER 

So  we  went  in  his  tender  which  was 
lying  at  his  landing  with  her  men  in 
her,  that  had  been  waiting  for  us. 
And  on  the  way  out  he  asked  me  casu 
ally  and  seemingly  without  interest, 
how  I  liked  steamers;  and  he  had  his 
gaze  fixed  upon  his  great  vessel  as 
though  he  had  an  affection  for  her. 

"They  are  good  for  getting  some 
where  quickly,"  I  answered  him,  "if 
you  mean  such  as  yours.  For  the 
rest,  one  might  as  well  be  in  some 
great  modern  hotel  on  an  island  in 
the  midst  of  the  sea.  There  is  no 
more  pleasure  in  them.  Now  tell  me, 
is  there?" 

He  laughed  a  hearty  laugh.  "I 
can  well  imagine,  Adam,  the  pleasure 
you  would  have  in  being  in  a  great 
hotel,  whether  it  was  in  the  midst  of 
the  sea  or  in  the  midst  of  the  city, 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE      273 

But  I  have  had  some  pleasure  in  that 
boat.   I  have  some  regard  for  her." 

"Then  I  ask  your  pardon,"  I  said, 
"  for  the  answer  that  I  gave.  I  should 
have  said  other.  But  what  I  meant 
was  clear  enough.  A  sailing  vessel 
is  a  living  thing,  and  each  has  ways 
of  her  own.  You  feel  her  response 
to  each  movement  of  the  wheel  or 
each  change  of  sail  or  trim  of  sheet, 
and  that  response  is  sometimes  will 
ing  and  sometimes  unwilling.  She  is 
like  a  woman,  responding  instantly 
and  gladly  to  a  man  who  persuades 
her  with  sympathy  and  understand 
ing,  and  doing  her  best;  while  to  a 
man  without  true  understanding  of 
her  she  is  reluctant  and  contrary  and 
stubborn.  I  have  no  experience  in 
vessels  of  size,  but  you  can  ask  Cap 
tain  Fergus." 


274  THE   CLAMMER 

He  laughed  again.  "Fergus  is  of 
the  same  opinion,"  he  said.  "But 
what  I  meant  to  ask  was  whether 
you  have  experience  of  steamers." 

I  shook  my  head. 

"Too  bad,"  he  said,  and  sighed. 
"A  steamer  is  a  living  thing  too,  I 
think,  but  less  like  a  woman;  going 
straight  where  she  is  going  like  a 
man;  more  straightforward.  I  like 
a  steamer  well  enough.  But  Fergus 
agrees  with  you.  And  Fergus  has  to 
go  in  a  steamer,  and  it  almost  breaks 
his  heart.  He  is  to  command  her." 
And  he  waved  at  the  huge  hull  tower 
ing  above  us,  for  we  were  at  the  gang 
way. 

I  was  following  after  him  up  the 
steps. 

"And  is  Captain  Fergus  in  the 
navy?"  I  asked. 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE      275 

"In  the  Reserve.  He  has  been  since 
the  beginning.  They  were  only  wait 
ing  for  a  ship." 

"And  the  Arcadia?" 

He  turned  and  smiled.  "She  is  en 
rolled  too,  but  it  is  a  secret.  I  don't 
know  why  a  secret." 

So  that  explained  her  activities. 
There  might  be  other  secrets;  and 
I  thought  of  Elizabeth  and  Bobby. 
Elizabeth  could  be  trusted  to  keep 
a  secret  well,  and  Bobby  knew  it. 
And  Elizabeth  had  been  away  much 
of  the  time  for  two  weeks  or  more, 
always  going  in  the  Arcadia  wher 
ever  she  went,  but  usually  home  for 
the  night.  By  "home"  I  mean  our 
house.  I  thought  she  was  but  a  guest 
of  Mrs.  Fergus,  but  there  might  be 
some  other  explanation.  It  did  not 
matter.  Elizabeth  was  Elizabeth,  and 


276  THE   CLAMMER 

Eve  rejoiced  to  see  her  face  with  its 
crown  of  beaver-colored  hair,  and  her 
calm  and  smiling  eyes.  I  have  not 
yet  decided  what  is  the  color  of  her 
eyes,  but  they  suit  Eve. 

And  I  looked  up,  and  I  saw  the 
Arcadia  just  stretching  her  sails  as  a 
man  will  stretch  his  arms  and  legs  in 
preparation  for  the  using  of  them. 
She  had  been  there  all  night.  And  I 
saw  that  noble  yacht  of  Pukkie's 
casting  off  from  the  stage  in  the  little 
harbor  of  Old  Goodwin's,  and  Pukkie 
and  Elizabeth  in  her.  And  Pukkie 
saw  me  —  he  had  been  waiting  to 
catch  my  eye  —  and  they  both  waved 
to  me  as  the  boat  caught  the  wind 
and  stood  out  of  the  harbor.  She  was 
tiny,  that  yacht  of  Pukkie's,  but  she 
was  complete;  as  complete  as  the 
Arcadia.  Indeed,  she  was  not  unlike 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE      277 

her,  save  that  one  was  a  schooner 
and  the  other  a  sloop.  To  see  that 
boat  of  Pukkie's  out  upon  the  water 
with  no  other  near  enough  to  com 
pare  them,  you  might  think  she  was 
of  any  size,  even  a  big  boat  —  until 
you  saw  the  two  huddled  in  the  cock 
pit  or  one  of  them  stretched  upon  the 
deck,  almost  covering  it. 

"See,"  I  said  to  Old  Goodwin, 
"  there  goes  Pukkie." 

He  stood  at  the  head  of  the  gang 
way,  and  he  smiled  a  happy  smile. 

"I  see.  He  will  go  near  all  the 
lobster  buoys,  and  the  fish  traps,  and 
the  rocks  uncovered  by  the  tide,  and 
pretend  that  they  are  submarines. 
He  has  told  me.  And  he  pretends 
that  the  Yankee  is  a  vessel  that  has 
been  sunk  by  a  submarine.  What  it 
is  to  be  a  boy!" 


278  THE  CLAMMER 

"And  what  are  we  but  boys?"  I 
said.  "We  pretend  that  there  are 
submarines  in  all  the  waters  from 
Montauk  to  Chatham,  and  we  go 
about  looking  for  them.  It  is  much 
more  satisfactory  to  have  something 
that  you  can  see,  as  Pukkie  has,  — 
and  just  as  useful,  so  long  as  we  must 
pretend.  Submarines!  They  well-nigh 
turn  me  sick." 

He  laughed.  "They  turn  many 
sick." 

"Sick  at  heart,"  I  said,  "looking 
for  what  is  not.  We  might  request  - 
through  the  proper  diplomatic  chan 
nels —  that  Germany  send  some  over, 
one  for  each  district." 

He  laughed  again.  "It  would  re 
lieve  the  monotony,  and  put  spirit 
into  our  men.  Imagine  Fergus  if 
there  were  any.  He  is  a  war-horse." 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE       279 

And  he  led  the  way,  waving  some 
officer  aside,  and  took  me  through  the 
boat  and  showed  me  everything.  He 
had  made  changes.  I  should  not  have 
known  it  for  the  same  boat.  The  state 
rooms,  that  had  been  palatial,  had 
been  divided,  but  were  large  in  their 
new  state ;  and  new  quarters  had  been 
provided  for  the  crew,  who  would  be 
twice  as  many  men  as  he  had  ever 
carried;  and  she  had  been  strength 
ened  for  the  mountings  of  the  guns. 
Many  other  changes  had  been  made, 
but  it  was  these  that  he  lingered  over. 
They  had  been  some  months  in  mak 
ing  the  changes,  and  he  had  carried 
a  small  army  of  mechanics  about 
with  him. 

He  had  been  showing  me  the  offi 
cers'  quarters  for  the  third  time,  and 
at  last  he  turned  away. 


280  THE    CLAMMER 

"  I  am  given  to  understand,"  he  ob 
served,  "that  any  recommendations 
I  may  make  will  receive  due  consider 
ation.  Fergus  is  made  a  command 
er,  but  there  are  vacancies." 

He  meant  me,  of  course.  The  fin 
ger  of  destiny  always  points  at  me. 
It  was  as  much  as  an  offer,  but  I 
should  have  been  ashamed  to  accept 
it.  A  man  should  enroll,  and  then 
let  the  navy  do  what  they  will  with 
him.  Of  course  he  should ;  but  that  is 
ascribing  all  wisdom  to  the  men  who 
have  all  power.  They  are  but  men, 
and  have  not  all  wisdom;  they  are 
but  men  as  we  are,  and  some  of  them 
a  little  less. 

I  smiled.  "I  am  sorry,"  I  said, 
"that  I  know  nothing  of  steamers 
and  the  running  of  them,  or  I  should 
be  tempted  to  try  for  one  of  the  va- 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE       281 

cancies.  I  do  not  suppose  I  could 
qualify  for  anything;  a  coal-passer, 
or  even  a  third-class  quartermaster 
perhaps,  no  better.  And  I  should  not 
like  to  have  fingers  of  scorn  pointed 
at  me  as  being  the  admiral's  pet  or 
something  of  the  kind.  It  would 
smack  of  politics  and  influence." 

Old  Goodwin  laughed.  "It  is  not 
an  improper  use  of  influence  to  point 
out  a  man's  virtues,"  he  answered, 
"but  quite  proper.  The  authorities 
do  not  know  you,  but  I  do,  and  I  con 
sider  you  well  qualified.  The  knowl 
edge  of  your  duties  you  could  pick 
up  soon  enough.  You  could  pass  the 
examination  for  a  lieutenant's  com 
mission  in  two  weeks.  I  would  not  be 
afraid  to  promise  it.  You  can  navi 
gate,  Adam." 

I  nodded.  "  I  wish  it  could  be  done. 


282  THE  CLAMMER 

But  you  forget  that  I  am  forty-three. 
They  don't  want  men  of  forty- three." 

"It  might  be  done,"  he  said.  "Fer 
gus  is  forty-four,  but  many  years  a 
master.  It  might  be  done,  but  if  you 
don't  want  — " 

I  interrupted  him.  "You  forget 
Eve.  She  is  a  pacifist  —  as  bad  as 
Cecily." 

He  smiled.  "  Eve  is  not  so  much  a 
pacifist  —  nor  Cecily.  I  would  not 
worry  about  Eve." 

That  was  news  to  me  —  if  he  was 
right.  And  I  did  want  to  do  some 
thing,  if  only  to  restore  my  self- 
respect,  that  was  well-nigh  gone  from 
me.  It  was  but  to  find  that  something 
that  I  could  do  better  than  another, 
if  such  there  was. 

"I  will  think  about  it,"  I  said. 

"Do,"  he  returned,  "and  so  will  I. 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE      283 

It  may  be  that  this  vessel  is  not  the 
place  for  you.  I  should  like  it  better 
if  there  was  something  that  would 
keep  you  here  or  hereabouts  —  and 
so  would  Eve.  It  should  be  something 
that  no  one  else  can  do." 

I  laughed  and  said  nothing.  What 
was  there  for  me  to  say?  But  my 
laugh  had  no  merriment  in  it.  It  was 
simple:  I  had  but  to  find  that  which  I 
could  do  and  no  one  else ;  but  stay  — 
it  must  be  useful  in  the  present  case. 
And  I  laughed  again  savagely,  and  I 
looked  up,  and  there  was  the  Rattle 
snake  anchored  beside  the  Arcadia. 

'They  are  well  in  time  for  the  clam 
bake,"  I  remarked,  "although  they 
have  digged  no  clams." 

For  this  was  the  day  of  Ogilvie's 
farewell.  He  had  written  Eve,  and 
she  had  got  the  note  the  day  before; 


284  THE   CLAMMER 

and  all  the  afternoon  I  had  been  busy 
with  getting  my  supplies,  and  in  the 
early  morning  of  this  day  we  had 
digged  the  clams.  It  was  but  a  rem 
nant  of  my  company  that  gathered 
there,  only  Old  Goodwin  and  Eve 
and  Elizabeth  and  Cecily  and  me  — • 
and  Captain  Fergus.  I  almost  forgot 
Captain  Fergus,  but  he  dug  few  clams. 
The  burden  of  the  day  fell  upon  Old 
Goodwin  and  me.  Jimmy  and  Bobby 
and  Ogilvie  and  Tom  and  Mrs.  Fergus 
and  Olivia  were  absent.  And  now 
there  was  naught  to  do  but  to  start 
the  bake.  Old  Goodwin  and  I  went  in 
silence  to  the  tender,  and  ashore. 

"Think  hard,"  said  Old  Goodwin 
as  I  was  leaving  him.  "There  must 
be  something." 

"If  only  we  can  find  it,"  I  re 
turned.  "I  have  little  hope." 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE      285 

He  smiled  his  old  smile  of  peace. 
"  I  have  much,"  he  said.  "  I  can  take 
you  over  to  Newport  on  any  day  you 
wish.  I  will  be  over  to  help  you  with 
the  bake." 

Our  clambake  was  a  good  clam 
bake,  and  the  clams  were  good,  be 
ing  fresh-digged  and  well  baked,  and 
the  lobsters  tender,  being  small — in 
deed,  I  was  glad  that  no  inspectors 
from  the  police  boat  were  there  to 
measure  them.  I  did  not  measure 
them,  being  well  enough  content  to 
take  the  word  of  the  fishermen.  And 
the  chickens  were  good  and  all  things 
else;  but  there  was  something  lacking, 
something  wrong,  and  that  something 
was  in  the  spirits  of  the  guests.  Old 
Goodwin  was  cheerful,  and  Elizabeth 
seemed  cheerful  enough,  and  Jimmy; 
but  upon  the  spirits  of  the  rest  of 


286  THE    CLAMMER 

us  there  sat  an  incubus.  Ogilvie  said 
but  little,  and  Bobby  was  restless  and 
discontented.  He  had  hard  work  to 
sit  still  long  enough  to  eat;  and  there 
after  he  wandered  to  and  fro  like  a 
lost  soul,  standing  at  the  edge  of  the 
bluff  and  looking  out  moodily,  then 
wandering  over  to  my  garden  and 
regarding  it  critically,  then  back  to 
the  pine,  taking  his  knife  from  out  his 
pocket  and  tapping  it  upon  the  ta 
ble,  then  wandering  aimlessly  to  the 
clump  of  trees,  then  to  the  bluff  again. 
My  garden  is  not  on  exhibition. 
It  is  not  weedless,  as  Judson's  used 
to  be,  but  is  for  use;  and  it  is  not  to  be 
regarded  critically.  And  the  tapping 
of  knives  on  the  smooth  pine  planks 
of  the  table  is  not  to  be  commended. 
I  came  very  near  speaking  to  him 
about  it,  and  then  I  saw  Eve  watch- 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE       287 

ing  Bobby  with  an  anxious  look,  and 
I  caught  for  an  instant  a  glimpse  of 
Elizabeth's  eyes.  They  hurt  me.  It 
was  but  for  an  instant,  then  she  veiled 
them,  and  the  lights  played  upon 
them.  She  was  watching  Bobby  too. 
So  we  got  through  an  uncomfort 
able  afternoon,  and  it  came  time  for 
them  to  go.  Eve  had  Jack  Ogilvie  by 
himself  at  the  edge  of  the  bluff,  and 
they  talked  earnestly,  and  he  took 
her  hand  and  smiled  his  pleasant 
smile,  and  they  came  back  to  us. 
Bobby  was  tapping  his  knife  upon 
the  smooth  pine  boards. 

1 1  envy  you,  Jack,"  he  said,  heav 
ing  a  tremendous  sigh.  " I'll  be  there 
too,  if  there  is  any  way."  He  turned 
suddenly  to  Old  Goodwin.  "Can't 
you  say  a  word  for  me?  What  is  the 
use  of  influential  relatives,  anyway?" 


288  THE   CLAMMER 

And  Old  Goodwin  laughed.  "They 
are  of  little  use,  Bobby.  And  I  am 
surprised  that  you  are  willing  to  use 
influence  in  such  a  matter." 

And  he  looked  at  me  and  winked. 

"Use  influence!"  Bobby  cried  un 
der  his  breath.  "  I  'd  use  anything — a 
crowbar,  if  that  would  get  me  there." 

Then  they  said  their  farewells,  and 
Bobby  shook  hands  with  Eve  and  me, 
but  not  with  Elizabeth.  She  stood 
there,  her  hands  hanging  at  her  sides, 
and  a  smile  upon  her  lips,  —  not  in 
her  eyes, — while  Bobby  turned  away. 

But  he  turned  back  again  as  if  it 
were  against  his  will  and  some  great 
force  turned  him. 

"Good-bye,  Elizabeth,"  he  said 
low,  and  he  half  held  out  his  hand. 

She  went  forward  quickly.  "  Good 
bye,  Bobby,"  she  said. 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE       289 

And  Bobby  gripped  her  hand  so 
that  it  must  have  hurt,  and  held  it 
long  and  hard.  Then  he  flung  it  from 
him  as  I  had  seen  him  do  once  before, 
and  strode  away  abruptly,  and  ran 
down  the  steep  path  after  the  others. 
Elizabeth  came  back  to  us  smiling  — 
with  her  lips  and  eyes  and  heart;  and 
Eve  kissed  her  suddenly,  and  she 
laughed  and  cast  down  her  eyes,  and 
they  went  in  together. 

I  stood  upon  the  edge  of  my  bluff 
when  the  sun  was  low  in  the  west,  and 
I  watched  the  colors  that  the  Great 
Painter  spread  upon  the  still  waters. 
And  I  saw  again  that  little  strip  of 
marsh  below  me,  each  grass  stem 
standing  straight  and  motionless  and 
dark  in  the  still  water,  but  each  stem 
was  edged  with  greenish  gold.  Little 
waves  rippled  in  —  from  some  boat 


ago  THE   CLAMMER 

out  in  the  harbor  —  and  the  grass 
stems  rippled  gently  with  it,  and  the 
bars  of  gold  upon  the  waves  and  the 
waving  lines  of  gold  upon  the  grass 
stems  advanced  with  it  until  the 
wave  broke  upon  the  store.  I  looked 
out  to  see  what  boat  it  was,  and  it 
was  Ogilvie's,  and  he  stood  and  gazed 
and  waved  to  me,  and  I  waved  back, 
and  then  I  bethought  me  of  my  sig 
nalling.  So  I  waved  my  arms  like  a 
semaphore  gone  mad,  and  I  sent  him 
a  message  in  farewell;  and  he  under 
stood,  and  thanked  me  and  sent  a 
farewell  to  Eve.  Then  he  was  gone 
out  into  the  pearl-gray  of  the  coming 
twilight,  and  his  gray  boat  was  lost 
in  the  gray  of  sky  and  sea. 

I  looked  down  at  the  little  marsh. 
The  grass  was  still  again,  and  two 
blackbirds  flew  across  it.  I  saw  the 


AND  THE    SUBMARINE       291 

red  shoulders  of  one  as  he  guided  his 
waving  flight,  and  the  grass  stems 
standing  up  darkly  above  the  bright 
water,  as  if  they  were  set  in  glass.  It 
seemed  infinitely  beautiful  and  sweet, 
and  infinitely  sad. 

I  was  wakened  in  the  night  by  a 
noise  outside  our  window;  a  little 
noise,  as  if  somebody  were  trying  not 
to  make  it.  A  greater  noise,  one  made 
as  if  by  right,  would  not  have  awak 
ened  me.  And  I  took  a  stick  that  I 
have  —  a  straight  hickory  handle  for 
a  sledge  fits  the  hand  well,  and  makes 
an  admirable  weapon  —  and  I  went 
out,  thinking  of  German  spies.  There 
was  no  moon,  but  I  saw  him.  My 
spy  was  doing  nothing  but  gazing  up 
at  the  window,  and  I  came  upon  him 
from  behind  and  caught  him  by  the 
collar.  That  collar  was  stiff  with  braid. 


292  THE    CLAMMER 

He  turned  quickly  and  wrenched 
himself  free. 

"What  do  you  mean,  Adam,"  he 
asked,  "by  your  murderous  assault 
upon  a  peaceful  relative?" 

It  was  Bobby.  "You  're  no  relative 
of  mine,"  I  said.  "What  are  you 
doing,  anyway?  Don't  you  know  that 
the  window  you  are  gazing  at  is 
mine  —  Eve's  and  mine?" 

"All  the  windows  in  the  house 
are  yours,  are  n't  they?"  he  growled. 
"And  I  'm  not  looking  at  any  window. 
But  why  can't  I  if  I  want  to?  Answer 
me  that." 

There  was  no  answer  to  that.  "It 
is  lucky,"  I  observed,  "  that  I  keep  no 
dog  —  a  dog  like  Burdon's.  I  think 
of  getting  one." 

Bobby  laughed  at  that.  Burdon 
had  a  great  dog,  a  vicious  beast, 


AND   THE  SUBMARINE       293 

which  amused  himself  one  day  by 
chasing  Burdon  into  the  hencoop, 
growling  and  snarling  savagely.  He 
kept  him  there  for  hours  until  there 
came  along  a  boy  who  had  owned  the 
dog  until  his  father  decided  that  the 
dog  was  too  vicious  and  gave  him  to 
Burdon.  The  boy  seized  the  dog  by 
the  collar,  and  dragged  him  away 
and  chained  him,  and  told  Burdon 
that  he  could  come  out. 

"Don't  you  do  it,  Adam,"  Bobby 
said.  'Think  how  you  would  feel  if 
you  came  out  and  found  only  my 
mangled  remains.  And  I  am  doing 
no  harm  —  only  wandering  about." 

So  he  was  but  wandering  about. 
He  should  have  been  in  bed.  And 
we  stood  there  and  talked  for  a  few 
minutes,  and  Bobby  wandered  off  to 
my  steep  path  and  down  to  the  shore, 


294  THE   CLAMMER 

and  I  heard  the  sound  of  great  peb 
bles  rolling,  and  I  heard  him  whistling 
softly  some  mournful  air.  I  went  in 
and  to  bed.  Elizabeth  sleeps  in  the 
room  down  the  hall,  and  her  windows 
are  around  the  corner.  I  heard  a  little 
noise  from  her  room  as  I  turned  into 
mine. 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE      295 


X 

ONE  morning  —  it  was  the  first 
of  August,  the  middle  of  that 
hot  week  —  I  was  sitting  on  the  seat 
under  my  great  pine,  and  Eve  sat  be 
side  me.  I  was  waiting  for  Elizabeth, 
for  the  time  had  come  again  for  the 
Arcadia  to  be  about  her  mysterious 
business  on  the  sea,  and  this  time  I  was 
to  go.  It  was  what  Elizabeth  called 
"transferring"  something  or  some 
body.  What  it  was  and  where  it  was  I 
was  to  find  out.  I  wished  that  Eve  was 
going — and  Pukkie.  I  said  as  much. 
"Elizabeth  has  not  asked  us,"  she 
replied.  "I  could  not  go  if  I  were 
asked,  for  I  promised  to  go  to  moth 
er's.  She  has  one  of  her  bad  turns. 
But  Pukkie  would  love  it." 


sg6  THE   CLAMMER 

I  murmured  my  regret  at  Mrs. 
Goodwin's  illness.  Her  illnesses  are 
not  serious  and  do  not  last  long,  and 
the  cause  of  them  is  not  far  to  seek. 
She  eats  most  heartily  and  takes  no 
exercise,  and  that  practice  ever  bred 
illness.  I  would  have  her  mowing  for 
remedy. 

Eve  slipped  her  hand  within  my 
arm  and  clasped  the  other  over  it. 

"Adam,"  she  said,  giving  my  arm 
a  gentle  squeeze,  "what  is  it  that  is 
troubling  you?  Something  does.  It 
has  for  a  long  time." 

Now  that  was  what  I  did  not  ex 
pect,  that  Eve  should  think  me  trou 
bled,  for  I  thought  that  I  had  been 
most  careful.  But  I  should  have 
known  better.  Eve  always  knows. 
And  the  thing  that  had  been  trou 
bling  me  more  than  any  other  was 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE       297 

that  I  had  not  thought  of  that  no  one 
else  could  do  but  I. 

I  looked  down  into  her  eyes,  and  I 
saw  there  many  things;  but  love  and 
longing  most  of  all,  the  longing  to 
comfort  me  if  she  could  but  lay  her 
finger  on  the  hurt. 

I  smiled.  "It  is  not  so  bad  as 
that,"  I  said. 

"Well,  kiss  me,  Adam,"  she  said, 
"and  tell  me." 

I  obeyed  orders  —  or  part  of  them. 

"On  the  day  of  the  draft,"  I  said, 
"  I  was  in  the  village,  and  I  saw  all 
the  inhabitants  assembled,  and  they 
scanned  each  batch  of  numbers  as 
the  news  came,  but  not  a  third  of 
them  knew  what  their  own  numbers 
were.  Some  did,  and  I  saw  two  that 
were  drafted.  One  of  the  two  went 
out  from  that  assembly  with  eyes  that 


2g8  THE    CLAMMER 

saw  nothing,  looking  as  if  he  went 
to  his  execution.  The  other  laughed, 
and  said  that  that  settled  it,  and  he 
was  glad.  And  tell  me  if  you  can 
the  answer  to  my  riddle  —  which 
has  nothing  to  do  with  the  assem 
bly  in  the  village  —  and  say  what 
there  is  that  I  can  do,  but  no  one 
else." 

She  laughed.  "  Is  that  the  matter? 
And  must  the  thing  be  useful?  I  know 
several  things  that  no  one  else  can 
do,  but  they  are  not  useful.  If  it  must 
be  useful, — well,  —  I  cannot  think 
of  it  at  this  moment,  but  I  have  no 
doubt  I  shall."  She  leaned  forward, 
and  tried  to  look  into  my  eyes;  and 
failing  that,  she  shook  me.  "What  is 
the  nature  of  this  thing  that  you  must 
do?  Look  at  me,  and  tell  me." 

I  was  afraid  to  look  at  her  lest  she 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE       299 

guess,  and  I  was  not  ready  to  tell  her. 
I  might  never  be  ready. 

"It  is  nothing,  Eve,"  I  said: 
"nothing  of  importance.  It  is  not 
worth  a  minute's  worry."  And  that 
was  true  too. 

"Foist  it  upon  somebody  else 
then,"  she  answered  quickly.  "There 
are  persons  to  decide  those  things." 

I  looked  at  her  then.  "I  cannot 
believe  that  I  get  your  meaning.  You 
could  not  know.  Truly  there  are  per 
sons  to  decide  those  things,  but 
Heaven  knows  whether  they  are 
competent  to  decide  anything.  No 
doubt  they  would  cheerfully  and 
light-heartedly  consign  me  to  — what 
I  should  not  do." 

I  stopped  abruptly.  I  had  almost 
told  her  that  which  I  had  determined 
not  to  tell  her  —  yet.  I  looked  into 


300  THE   CLAMMER 

her  eyes,  and  there  I  saw  laughter 
and  joy  and  hope  and  great  love ;  and 
I  saw  the  same  tender  wistfulness 
that  I  had  seen  so  many  times  in  the 
past  weeks.  But  joy  and  laughter 
conquered. 

"I  hear  Elizabeth  coming,"  she 
said,  "and  I  hope  you  may  read  your 
riddle.  Now  we  must  be  most  proper. 
Are  you  proper,  Adam?" 

And  Elizabeth  came  while  I  was 
yet  straightening  my  hair,  and  getting 
it  into  a  comfortable  condition.  It 
feels  most  uncomfortable  when  it  is 
rumpled  and  each  separate  hair  tak 
ing  a  different  direction,  like  the 
brush  that  is  used  to  black  the  stove. 
It  feels  as  that  brush  looks. 

Elizabeth  laughed  at  me  unfeeling 
ly.  And  she  turned  to  Eve.  But  peo 
ple  always  turn  to  Eve.  "I'm  going 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       301 

to  take  Pukkie,  Eve,  if  you  don't 
mind.  Captain  Fergus  did  not  ask 
him,  but  I  'm  going  to  take  him  any 
way.  I 've  told  him." 

And  Eve  smiled  and  said  nothing, 
and  we  started,  and  Pukkie  came 
running,  his  face  expressing  his  de 
light.  And  when  we  were  in  the 
launch  and  starting  from  the  landing, 
Eve  wished  me  once  more  the  proper 
reading  of  my  riddle,  and  she  threw 
a  kiss  to  us,  and  stood  there  until  we 
were  aboard  the  Arcadia;  then  we 
saw  her  wending  up  the  slope  toward 
the  great  house. 

The  sails  were  already  hoisted  and 
the  anchor  hove  short.  Elizabeth  and 
Captain  Fergus  and  Pukkie  and  I 
were  settled  in  chairs  along  the  rail, 
and  the  crew  went  about  their  busi 
ness  so  quickly  and  so  quietly  that 


302  THE   CLAMMER 

the  first  I  knew  of  our  being  un 
der  way  was  the  gentle  canting  of 
the  deck  beneath  my  feet.  We  had 
slipped  out. 

The  wind  was  very  light,  but  it  was 
making  rapidly,  and  there  was  a  long, 
heaving  swell  from  the  Atlantic  — 
perhaps  two  hundred  feet  from  crest 
to  crest  —  which  made  the  big  Arca 
dia  pitch  gently  and  bury  her  bow  to 
the  eyes.  At  last  one  of  these  seas, 
higher  than  most  of  those  which 
made  up  the  great  procession,  crept 
up  higher  yet  and  slopped  over  upon 
the  deck.  And  her  bows  rose,  and 
there  was  a  rush  of  water  along  the 
deck,  and  there  came  the  noise  of 
falling  water  from  hawse  pipes  and 
scuppers. 

Pukkie  laughed  with  delight,  and 
Captain  Fergus  looked  up. 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       303 

"Crack  on,"  he  said;  and  they  set 
more  sail. 

Presently  there  came  another  of 
those  mighty  rollers.  She  took  it 
over  her  bows,  a  flood  of  green  water, 
and  it  came  roaring  aft.  Again  there 
was  the  sound  of  many  waters,  more 
mighty  yet,  as  hawse  pipes  and  scup 
pers  spouted  forth  their  loads. 

Captain  Fergus  looked  up  at  the 
masts.  "Crack  on,"  he  said  again. 
And  he  got  up  and  wandered  to  and 
fro  across  the  deck,  gazing  up  at  the 
masts  and  at  the  men  setting  the 
light  sails. 

"She'd  do  better,"  he  said,  stop 
ping  for  an  instant  by  my  chair,  "if 
I  had  n't  had  to  put  that  confounded 
engine  in  her.  You  would  n't  believe 
what  a  drag  a  screw  is,  even  when  it 
is  feathering." 


304  THE   CLAMMER 

She  was  doing  well  enough.  All  her 
light  sails  were  set,  and  she  was  fur 
nished  forth  with  all  her  frills  and 
furbelows,  so  that  there  was  no  place 
where  she  could  carry  another  stitch. 
She  bent  to  her  business  and  sailed. 
And  Captain  Fergus  smiled  a  smile 
of  satisfaction  —  in  spite  of  that  drag 
ging  screw. 

Pukkie  had  left  his  comfortable 
chair,  and  was  leaning  against  my 
knee,  saying  nothing,  but  looking  back 
at  me  now  and  then,  his  face  a  study. 
It  was  a  pleasure  just  to  watch  him. 
Captain  Fergus  seemed  to  find  it  so, 
and  Elizabeth  had  been  watching 
him  for  some  time. 

"Come,  young  man,"  Captain  Fer 
gus  said  suddenly.  "Don't  you  want 
to  walk  a  while  with  me  —  to  pace 
the  deck  with  measured  tread,  while 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       305 

what-you-may-call-it  on  the  dead? 
Eh?" 

And  Pukkie  smiled  more  than  ever 
—  if  that  were  possible  —  and  jumped 
and  joined  him;  and  they  walked  — 
paced  the  deck  with  measured  tread 
for  some  time  in  solemn  silence.  Cap 
tain  Fergus  would  glance  aloft,  and 
Pukkie  would  glance  aloft;  and  at 
last  I  smiled  and  Elizabeth  laughed. 

"Don't  you  feel  like  pacing  the 
deck  with  measured  tread?"  I  asked. 

And  she  got  up  as  if  she  had  been 
sitting  on  a  spring,  and  we  paced  the 
deck  in  solemn  silence  behind  those 
other  two. 

Captain  Fergus  turned  suddenly. 
"This  young  man  ought  to  have  a 
uniform,"  he  said.  "I've  got  one 
that  he  could  wear.  Steward!" 

And  the  steward,  having  come  in- 


3o6  THE   CLAMMER 

stantly  and  received  his  instructions, 
vanished  below,  and  immediately 
reappeared,  bearing  an  ensign's  coat 
and  cap.  These  were  fitted  upon  my 
son.  They  were  too  large,  but  he 
could  wear  them. 

"But,  Captain  Fergus,"  said  Eliza 
beth,  laughing,  "the  regulations!" 

11  Jig£er  the  regulations ! "  remarked 
Captain  Fergus,  smiling.  "I  pay 
mighty  little  attention  to  regulations 
when  I'm  on  my  own  vessel.  Puk- 
kie's  my  first  officer." 

My  little  son  beamed  at  this,  and 
turned  to  show  me  his  uniform. 

"When  you  command  that  yacht 
of  Mr.  Goodwin's,"  said  Elizabeth, 
"you'll  have  to  pay  some  attention 
to  the  regulations." 

"Have  to  sleep  in  my  uniform,  like 
as  not,"  Captain  Fergus  growled. 


AND  THE  SUBMARINE      307 

"  According  to  the  order  we  are  not 
to  unbutton  a  button  of  the  coat  on 
any  occasion.  If  that  does  n't  mean 
sleep  in  your  uniform,  what  does  it 
mean?" 

"You  can't  have  Pukkie  for  your 
first  officer  then,"  Elizabeth  pursued. 
"Can  you?" 

"I  suppose  not.  Probably  some 
yachting  chaps  who  have  been  promi 
nent  socially  and  got  their  pictures 
in  the  papers.  I  hope  not,  though. 
There  are  some  good  men  in  the  Re 
serve.  I  only  hope  they  may  give  me 
men  who  have  had  experience  in 
steamers.  I  don't  want  any  of  these 
pets  who  have  commissions  merely 
because  they  had  influence,  or  be 
cause  they  were  rich  enough  to  give  a 
boat." 

I  said  nothing.  I  had  the  light  that 


308  THE   CLAMMER 

I  was  looking  for,  although  it  did  not 
illumine  my  problem,  but  was  what 
I  had  supposed  it  would  be.  After 
all,  if  a  man  do  but  use  the  sense  that 
God  gave  him  and  stand  by  his  judg 
ments,  he  will  do  well  enough.  I 
would  have  none  of  Old  Goodwin's 
steamer.  What  was  I,  to  be  officer  on 
a  great  steamer?  I  might  command  a 
rowboat,  or  a  yacht  like  Pukkie's  if 
need  were. 

"You  do  not  have  a  very  high  opin 
ion,"  I  said,  "of  the  navy?" 

"What?"  he  said.  "High  opinion? 
Oh,  yes,  I  have.  Good  men  and  fine 
vessels,  many  of  them.  It's  a  sailor's 
right  to  growl  at  the  service  he's  in. 
You  must  n't  take  what  he  says  too 
seriously." 

"Would  you  advise  a  man  to  en 
roll  in  the  navy?" 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE      309 

"  Depends  on  the  man.  If  he  has  a 
taste  for  the  sea,  he'd  be  more  con 
tented  in  the  navy  than  in  the  army, 
but  many  men  have  a  strong  distaste 
for  it.  I  'd  advise  your  man  to  get  the 
best  rank  he  can,  and  to  have  no 
modesty  about  it.  If  he  does  n't  get 
it  some  other  fellow  will  who  is  not 
troubled  by  modesty." 

And  Captain  Fergus  took  up  his 
pacing  the  deck  again,  and  Pukkie 
walked  beside  him,  taking  as  long  a 
stride  as  he  could.  Elizabeth  watched 
them,  a  smile  of  affection  in  her  eyes. 

"Isn't  he  fine  in  his  uniform?" 
she  whispered.  "But  he  would  be 
happier  if  he  could  wear  his  old  blue 
coat  and  his  old  blue  cap." 

He  was  fine,  and  he  looked  the 
sailor  and  the  fighter.  But  I  knew 
that  old  blue  coat  and  that  old  blue 


310  THE   CLAMMER 

cap,  hanging  in  his  cabin.  The  sun 
had  shone  caressingly  upon  them 
many  times,  and  seemed  to  like  them 
almost  as  well  as  he  liked  them;  and 
they  had  changed  their  colors,  as 
everything  does  under  the  caresses 
of  the  sun,  until  they  were  blue  no 
longer,  but  of  a  purplish  cast,  shot 
with  red. 

The  wind  grew,  as  winds  will,  until 
two  or  three  in  the  afternoon,  and  the 
sea  grew  with  it,  but  always  there 
were  those  great  rollers  coming  in 
from  the  Atlantic.  And  the  Arcadia 
was  doing  her  twelve  knots,  bowing 
majestically  and  buffeting  the  great 
seas,  tearing  the  tops  from  them  and 
sending  sheets  of  spray,  which  rattled 
upon  her  deck  or  upon  the  surface  of 
the  water  like  hail;  and  the  water 
hissed  past  the  rail,  and  there  was  the 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       311 

gentle  cluck  of  blocks,  deep  in  their 
throats,  with  the  heave  of  the  sea, 
and  there  was  the  sound  of  wind  in 
the  rigging  and  of  ropes  beating  on 
taut  sails.  Altogether  it  made  glad 
my  heart;  and  Elizabeth  seemed  to 
like  it,  and  Pukkie's  heart  was  swol 
len  almost  to  bursting.  And  the  cap 
tain  paced  to  and  fro,  saying  nothing, 
or  he  stood  by  the  rail  looking  out 
over  the  waters,  his  cap  pulled  down 
low,  an  unquenchable  light  in  his 
deep  blue  eyes  and  a  happy  smile  on 
his  lips. 

We  had  passed  the  colored  cliffs  of 
Gay  Head  shining  in  the  sun,  and  we 
were  passing  Nomansland,  and  the 
great  rollers  were  greater  yet.  There 
was  fog  out  beyond,  lying  in  wait. 
Captain  Fergus  nodded  to  Eliza 
beth. 


3i2  THE   CLAMMER 

"Better  see  if  we  can  pick  them 
up,"  he  said. 

She  turned  to  go  below,  and  stopped 
at  the  companionway. 

"Look,"  she  said. 

We  looked  where  she  pointed. 
There,  on  the  surface  of  the  sea,  about 
two  miles  away,  was  some  great  thing 
glistening  in  the  sun,  the  water  wash 
ing  over  it.  A  thick  haze,  or  the 
advance  guard  of  the  fog,  made  it 
hard  to  see  anything  clearly  except 
the  glisten  of  the  sun. 

"Oh,"  cried  Pukkie,  "I  see  it.  Is 
it  a  submarine?"  And  he  looked  up 
at  the  captain. 

"More  likely  a  whale,"  the  captain 
answered,  smiling;  "but  we  will  see." 

And  the  course  of  the  Arcadia  was 
changed  a  little  so  that  she  was  head 
ing  straight  for  it.  She  kept  on  for  it, 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE       313 

and  now  and  then  the  sunlight  caught 
it  and  made  it  to  shine  like  the  win 
dows  of  a  house  at  sunset,  and  again 
it  was  a  dark  body  with  the  water 
washing  over  it,  and  we  could  scarcely 
make  it  out,  lying  there  in  the  sea. 
As  we  approached  my  breath  came 
quicker  and  my  eyes  glistened,  and 
I  smiled.  I  know  it,  for  Elizabeth 
glanced  at  me  and  laughed.  It  was  a 
mysterious  thing,  lying  there  in  that 
thick  haze.  It  seemed  as  if  it  might 
be  a  submarine,  although  reason  told 
me  it  was  not. 

"What  do  you  mean  to  do?"  I 
asked. 

"Ram  him,"  answered  the  captain 
promptly,  "if  it  is  a  submarine  and 
we  can  get  there  in  time.  A  fast  sail 
ing  vessel  is  better,  for  he  could  hear 
our  screw.  But  it  is  no  submarine. 


314  THE   CLAMMER 

It  looks  more  like  a  vessel's  bilge. 
There!  Ha!" 

The  glistening  body  moved,  and 
great  flukes  suddenly  reared  on  high, 
and  the  body  disappeared. 

"A  sleeping  whale,"  Captain  Fer 
gus  observed.  "Another  submarine 
report  gone  wrong." 

"Are  there  any  over  here?" 

"Not  now,  I  am  reasonably  sure. 
Don't  believe  there  will  be,  although 
I  may  be  mistaken.  They  can  use 
them  to  better  advantage  on  the 
other  side.  But  there  may  be,  in 
time,  unless  Germany  blows  up  first. 
We  don't  know  what  is  happening  in 
Germany.  They  may  blow  up  at  any 
minute,  and  they  may  not.  Should 
n't  be  surprised  —  and  I  should  n't 
be  surprised  if  they  kept  going  for  a 
year  or  two  longer.  Look  at  the  Rus- 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE      315 

sian  army,  just  got  well  going  and 
they  have  mutiny  and  lose  it  all.  Too 
bad !  I'd  like  to  see  any  crew  of  mine 
try  it!" 

Elizabeth  laughed  and  went  below, 
and  Captain  Fergus  began  again  his 
walking  to  and  fro.  Presently  Eliza 
beth  came  up  and  spoke  to  him,  and 
the  course  was  changed,  and  in  an 
hour  we  had  sighted  a  steamer  mak 
ing  for  us. 

It  was  the  Rattlesnake ;  and  the  two 
vessels  lay  quiet  on  that  rolling  sea 
while  our  tender  went  over  with  a 
package  of  papers,  and  came  back 
with  Bobby.  And  the  Rattlesnake 
turned  about  and  we  soon  lost  her  in 
the  haze,  and  we  turned  about  and 
headed  for  home. 

Bobby  was  not  talkative  on  the 
way  back.  Indeed,  Bobby  has  not 


316  THE   CLAMMER 

been  himself  for  some  weeks ;  not  the 
Bobby  that  I  knew  of  old.  I  cannot 
fix  the  date  at  which  the  change  oc 
curred,  but  it  was  some  date  that  had 
to  do  with  Elizabeth.  Every  date 
has  to  do  with  Elizabeth,  so  far  as 
he  is  concerned.  And  though  he  spoke 
to  her  when  he  came  over  the  side  — 
spoke  gravely,  I  suppose  he  thought 
• —  it  seemed  more  like  petulance  to 
me  —  he  said  no  word  more  to  her, 
but  sat  in  his  chair  and  gazed  mood 
ily  out  over  the  water.  And  Eliza 
beth  sat  in  her  chair,  and  she  gazed 
at  Bobby  under  lowered  lids,  and  she 
smiled  her  smile  of  suppressed  amuse 
ment.  And  presently,  her  thoughts 
being  unguarded,  she  raised  her  lids 
a  little,  so  that  I  saw  all  the  lights 
of  the  sea  playing  in  her  eyes,  that 
were  yet  regarding  Bobby,  and  there 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE      317 

came  into  them  a  tender  light  that 
was  more  than  all  the  light  on  sea 
and  sky.  And  she  glanced  at  me, 
and  she  saw  that  I  had  seen,  and  she 
flushed  slowly,  and  got  up  and  went 
below. 

"Bobby,"  I  said,  "are  you  not 
ashamed  of  yourself?" 

He  started .  ' '  Ashamed  of  myself  ? ' ' 
he  answered,  looking  at  the  com- 
panionway  down  which  Elizabeth 
had  disappeared.  "No  doubt  I  should 
be.  I  do  things  enough  to  be  ashamed 
of.  But  why?" 

"You  have  not  seemed  to  notice 
the  honor  that  has  befallen  my  fam 
ily.  My  son  is  made  ensign  or  lieu 
tenant  commander  or  something,  and 
you  have  not  remarked  the  event.  I 
am  afraid  that  you  have  hurt  his  feel 
ings." 


3i8  THE   CLAMMER 

Bobby  laughed  as  though  he  was 
relieved. 

"So  he  is  —  ensign  or  something, 
as  you  say.  And  I  did  not  observe  it. 
I  ask  his  pardon,  Adam,  and  yours." 
And  he  called  to  Pukkie,  who  was 
following  Captain  Fergus  about  like  a 
pet  dog;  and  Pukkie  came,  and  Bobby 
felicitated  him  upon  his  promotion. 
And  Pukkie  smiled  until  I  feared  lest 
his  face  crack. 

"It  is  a  trifle  large,"  Bobby  re 
marked,  referring  to  the  uniform, 
"but  he  will  grow  to  it." 

"It  is  not  so  much  too  large  as  it 
was,"  I  said.  "You  should  have  seen 
him  swell  —  like  a  toad-grunter." 

"Daddy,"  protested  the  aggrieved 
Pukkie, "  I'm  not  like  a  toad-grunter." 

The  toad-grunter  is  a  much  de 
spised  fish. 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE      319 

"No,  Puk,"  said  Bobby,  "you're 
not.  I  think  your  father  should  apol 
ogize." 

"I  apologize,  Pukkie,"  I  said  hast 
ily,  for  I  would  not  wound  my  son. 
"  You  are  not.  And,  Bobby,  can't  you 
find  any?  Is  that  why  you  are  out  of 
sorts?" 

"Find  any  what?"  asked  Bobby, 
puzzled.  "Anytoad-grunters?  I  hope 
not.  Who  wants  to  find  'em?  You 
speak  in  riddles,  Adam." 

"It  was  submarines  I  meant." 

Bobby  smiled  seraphically.  "Your 
traps,  Adam,  are  no  good.  But  I  'm 
going  to  find  some  submarines  pretty 
soon.  Pret  —  ty  soon,  you  mark  my 
words." 

"Words  marked.  But  what  do  you 
mean?" 

"What  I  say.   Now,  Puk,  what  do 


320  THE   CLAMMER 

you  say  to  a  walk  about  the  deck? 
Or  would  you  rather  follow  your  cap 
tain?" 

And  Bobby  strolled  off  with  Puk- 
kie.  They  went  up  forward,  where 
the  Arcadia  was  shouldering  aside 
the  great  seas.  We  had  the  wind  on 
the  quarter,  and  there  was  no  long 
er  the  sound  of  spray  like  rolling 
musketry.  And  presently  Elizabeth 
looked  out  of  the  companionway,  and 
seeing  me  alone,  she  came  and  sat  in 
the  chair  next  to  mine,  and  she  put 
out  her  hand. 

"Adam,"  she  said  with  a  pretty 
flush. 

"Elizabeth,"  I  answered,  with  no 
flush,  but  I  watched  hers  flaming. 

"Adam,  don't  you  tell,"  she  said, 
looking  shyly  at  me.  Elizabeth  is  not 
given  to  shy  looks,  but  to  honest  ones, 


AND    THE   SUBMARINE      321 

eye  to  eye.  "Promise  me  that  you 
will  never  tell.  Give  me  your  hand 
on  it." 

I  took  her  hand.  It  was  a  pretty 
hand  and  soft  enough,  with  tapering 
fingers,  but  it  was  not  such  a  pretty 
hand  as  Eve's. 

"Elizabeth,"  I  said  to  her,  "I  do 
not  know  anything  to  tell — anything 
that  would  be  of  interest.  But — but 
you  do  not  mind  if  I  tell  Eve,  do  you? 
And,"  I  finished  lamely  enough,  "I 
hope  it  —  it  will." 

She  laughed  and  sighed,  and  gave 
my  hand  a  squeeze. 

"Thank  you,"  she  said.  "But  Eve 
knows,  I  think." 

Captain  Fergus  was  standing  by 
the  rail,  sniffing  the  wind  and  gazing 
out  at  the  waters,  and  at  the  little 
swirls  of  foam  that  raced  by,  and  at 


322  THE   CLAMMER 

the  bank  of  fog  that  chased  us  in.  He 
was  happy.  I  almost  envied  him.  He 
had  done  his  part,  and  he  was  do 
ing  it. 

"Will  you  walk?"  I  asked  Eliza 
beth.  And  we  got  up  and  walked, 
saying  nothing. 

The  afternoon  passed,  and  the  wind 
died.  As  we  drew  near  to  the  light 
house  that  stands  like  a  sentinel  on 
its  rock  just  within  the  entrance  to 
the  bay,  the  sun  was  far  down  in  the 
west,  the  breeze  was  but  the  gentlest 
breath,  and  the  surface  of  the  water 
moved  in  slow,  oily  undulations.  I 
stood  with  Elizabeth  close  beside  the 
rail,  and  we  gazed  at  the  water  that 
was  red  and  gold. 

The  shadow  of  the  tall  lighthouse 
was  thrown  high  on  the  sails,  and 
passed  slowly  aft.  The  red  sun  was 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       323 

sitting  on  a  distant  hill  bearded  with 
cedars.  The  little  oily  waves  were 
splotched  with  vermilion  and  blue  and 
purple  and  gold,  and  the  gold  dazzled 
our  eyes. 

Not  a  ripple  marked  our  passage. 
I  gazed  at  the  red  sun,  and  he  gazed 
back  at  me ;  and  his  red  disc  was  half 
down  behind  the  hill,  and  I  could 
see  it  sink.  And  the  sun  sank  behind 
the  hill  and  had  winked  his  last,  and 
a  broad  smooch  of  red  lay  upon  the 
western  horizon.  We  watched  the  red 
fade  to  orange,  then  to  saffron  and  to 
green,  while  two  little  saffron  clouds 
with  edges  of  flame  floated  high 
above,  and  the  fog  crept  in  stealthily 
below.  And  I  heard  Elizabeth  sigh, 
and  I  looked  down  and  she  looked 
up. 

"  If  you  find  this  sad,"  I  said,  "and 


324  THE  CLAMMER 

as  if  it  were  the  end  of  all  things,  turn 
about.  The  sight  will  fill  your  soul 
with  peace." 

So  we  turned  about.  And  the  sky 
toward  the  east  was  of  a  lovely  soft, 
warm  pearl-gray,  and  the  water  the 
same  pearl-gray  with  tints  of  rose 
and  of  a  light  blue  here  and  there. 
The  distance  was  veiled  in  an  impal 
pable  haze,  and  water  and  sky  merged 
into  a  soft  grayish  blur  toward  the 
horizon,  as  if  smeared  with  a  dry 
brush.  The  water,  gray  with  its  rose 
tints  and  its  blue,  seemed  to  dimple 
softly,  like  a  baby  smiling  as  it  sank 
to  sleep.  It  soothed  my  soul;  it  was 
the  very  breath  of  peace.  " 

I  heard  another  sigh  beside  me, 
and  I  turned,  and  there  was  Bobby. 

1 '  Submarines  in  that ! "  he  said ,  and 
smiled. 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE      325 

We  began  to  turn  slowly,  and  were 
come  to  our  anchorage,  and  there  was 
Old  Goodwin's  great  steamer  not  far 
away,  and  Old  Goodwin  himself, 
with  Eve,  on  his  landing,  waiting  for 
us. 

As  we  were  about  to  go  ashore, 
Captain  Fergus  spoke  to  me. 

"About  that  man  of  yours,"  he 
said.  'Tell  him  to  go  to  Newport, 
and  to  put  himself  in  their  hands  over 
there.  It  is  the  best  thing  he  can 
do." 

And  I  thanked  him,  and  said  I 
would  tell  my  man.  And  we  were 
walking  from  the  landing,  Old  Good 
win  and  I  and  Eve  —  Bobby  had  to 
walk  with  Elizabeth,  with  Pukkie  be 
tween  them,  for  there  was  none  other 
thing  that  he  could  do,  but  they  said 
nothing  that  I  could  hear. 


326  THE   CLAMMER 

"  I  am  going  to  take  Cecily  over  to 
Newport  to-morrow,"  Old  Goodwin 
observed.  "She  has  not  seen  Tom 
for  five  days.  Don't  you  want  to 
come  along,  Adam?" 


AND  THE   SUBMARINE      327 


XI 

THERE  must  have  been  a  con 
spiracy  against  my  happiness 
-  or  for  it,  perhaps ;  but  Eve  seemed 
only  mildly  interested.     So  I  made 
some  excuse  to  her  —  I  do  not  like 
to  make  excuses  to  Eve  —  and  I  went 
to  Newport  with  Old  Goodwin  and 
Cecily.    Eve  could  not  go.    She  did 
not  say  why. 

Cecily  kept  us  late  in  Newport, 
trying  to  get  a  glimpse  of  Tom.  We 
had  got  a  glimpse  of  him,  dressed  in  a 
sailor  suit  and  driving  some  admiral 
or  other  in  a  big  gray  car,  but  he 
would  not  look  at  us,  and  that  did 
not  satisfy  Cecily.  But  she  was  not 
discouraged,  and  we  left  her  to  the 
pursuit  of  her  quarry,  and  we  went 


328  THE   CLAMMER 

about  our  business,  that  took  some 
time.  Then,  after  a  long  search,  we 
found  Cecily  talking  to  Tom  beside 
his  car.  That  admiral  of  his  did  not 
appear  for  hours,  and  Cecily  would 
not  leave  until  he  did,  so  we  left  them 
alone  together  on  the  curbstone,  and 
we  waited  around  the  next  corner. 
We  did  not  get  home  until  nearly 
eight,  and  Old  Goodwin  took  us  to 
his  house  for  dinner,  and  there  were 
Eve  and  Elizabeth  and  Bobby. 

It  was  a  good  dinner,  as  was  fitting 
for  Old  Goodwin's  house,  and  when  it 
was  over  we  all  wandered  out  upon 
the  piazza  where  stands  the  telescope, 
and  from  which  we  could  see  out  upon 
the  bay.  This  part  of  the  piazza  is 
like  another  room,  with  many  rugs 
upon  the  floor,  and  tables  and  com 
fortable  chairs;  and  it  is  lighted  at 


AND   THE  SUBMARINE      329 

night  —  dimly,  to  be  sure,  and  but 
so  much  as  lets  one  see  easily  where 
he  is  going,  if  he  is  going,  and  descry 
the  faces  of  the  others  sitting  there. 
But  that  is  for  those  who  are  gone 
blind  in  the  dark.  I  am  not  blind  in 
the  dark,  but  I  can  see  well  enough 
if  I  am  but  out  of  doors,  where  there 
is  always  light  enough  to  see  where 
one  is  going.  It  is  only  lights  that 
blind  me.  I  do  not  like  lights  out  of 
doors.  Besides,  on  this  night  there 
was  a  reddish  moon  hanging  rather 
low  in  the  southeast,  with  wisps  of 
fog  driving  under  it.  I  have  forgot 
ten  my  astronomy,  —  thank  heaven! 
• —  which  would  tell  me  why  the 
moon  sometimes  pursues  her  course 
high  overhead  and  sometimes  low 
toward  the  horizon.  The  moon  is 
no  friend  of  mine  anyway,  and  I 


330  THE    CLAMMER 

care  not  at  all  where  she  goes,  or 
whether  her  course  is  from  west  to 
east  or  north  to  south,  or  whether  she 
shine  at  all.  But  on  this  night  she 
shone  bravely  for  the  time,  and  there 
would  have  been  light  enough  with 
no  other. 

So  we  sat  there  for  some  time  in 
silence,  feeling  pleasant  and  satisfied 
because  we  had  just  dined  well,  and 
Old  Goodwin  smoked  his  cigar,  and 
Bobby  and  I  smoked  our  pipes.  And 
I  was  becoming  less  and  less  pleasant 
and  satisfied  with  those  lights  above 
me,  and  Bobby  was  getting  restless, 
being  seized  with  curious  alternations 
of  restless  nervousness  and  pleasant 
satisfaction.  Eve  seemed  to  be  satis 
fied  enough,  and  Elizabeth  sat  motion 
less,  her  hands  in  her  lap,  and  a  half- 
smile  on  her  lips.  I  could  not  see  her 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE       331 

eyes,  but  she  seemed  to  be  watching. 
There  had  been  some  desultory 
talk,  and  the  lights  had  become  too 
much  for  me,  and  I  had  wandered 
out  with  Eve  into  a  sort  of  balcony 
that  had  no  lights.  And  we  sat  — 
closer  together  than  we  could  have 
sat  if  the  balcony  had  been  lighted  — 
and  Eve's  hand  came  searching  for 
mine  that  was  already  searching  for 
hers,  and  we  clasped  our  fingers  close, 
and  we  looked  out  at  the  waters  of 
the  bay  that  sparkled  dimly,  and  at 
the  tapering  band  of  moonlight  that 
widened  to  a  broad  circle  under  the 
moon,  and  at  the  riding  lights  of  the 
Arcadia  and  of  Old  Goodwin's  great 
steamer,  —  a  great  dark  shape.  Fog 
hung  about.  It  would  be  in  presently. 
'Tell  me,  Adam,"  said  Eve  softly. 
"What  did  you  see  at  Newport?" 


332  THE   CLAMMER 

"Tom,"  I  answered.  "He's  a  sight 
in  his  sailor  suit." 

She  laughed.  "  Of  course ;  but  noth 
ing  to  what  you  would  be.  We're 
very  fond  of  Tom,  are  n't  we,  and  of 
Cecily?  What  else?" 

"The  beach  and  the  town  and  the 
cliffs  and  the  training  station  and  the 
new  barracks  and  many  vessels  at 
anchor." 

"Exasperating!"  And  she  shook 
me.  "Did  n't  you  go  into  the  War 
College?" 

"We  did.  Your  father  seems  to 
know  many  there." 

"Adam,"  said  Eve,  "aren't  you 
going  to  tell  me?" 

She  bent  forward  and  looked  up 
into  my  eyes,  and  I  looked  down  into 
hers.  I  kissed  her. 

"  I  will  tell  you,  Eve.    Never  fear. 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE       333 

When  you  look  at  me  like  that,  I 
would  tell  anything.  I  tell  you  every 
thing  sooner  or  later." 

"I  like  it  sooner." 

"  I  have  some  fear  that  you  will  not 
like  it." 

"  If  you  have  done  it,  Adam,  I  shall 
like  it.  If  I  do  not  like  it,  you  will 
never  know  it.  Tell  me.  You  did  not 
go  to  view  the  country.  I  know  that 
well  enough." 

"Well,"  I  began,  and  stopped, 
somewhat  troubled.  Scraps  of  talk 
had  drifted  out  to  us,  now  and  then, 
from  that  room  we  had  left,  and  by 
turning  we  could  get  a  glimpse  of  one 
or  another,  sitting  in  the  dim  yellow 
light. 

Bobby  had  just  said  something, 
and  then  there  fell  a  sudden  silence — • 
absolute  silence.  It  was  the  silence 


334  THE    CLAMMER 

that  stopped  me,  and  I  cast  back  over 
my  unconscious  recollection  to  see  if 
I  knew  what  he  had  said.  And  the 
things  that  had  happened  in  there  in 
the  last  minute  took  gradual  shape  in 
my  mind,  as  things  sometimes  do  that 
are  heard  with  the  ear  but  not  con 
sciously  noted.  Old  Goodwin  had 
asked  Bobby  some  question,  I  know 
not  what,  and  Bobby  had  answered 
him  in  a  dull,  dead  sort  of  voice.  I 
recalled  the  voice  because  it  was 
strange  for  Bobby  to  use  it;  but  he 
had  done  many  strange  things.  What 
had  he  said  in  that  dull,  indiffer 
ent  voice  that  sounded  as  if  all  that 
he  cared  for  were  destroyed  utterly? 
I  had  it,  and  so  did  Eve.  It  had  not 
taken  a  half  a  minute.  He  had  an 
nounced  that  he  was  to  go  to  England 
and  join  a  destroyer. 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE       335 

No  one  had  spoken  in  that  half- 
minute,  and  I  peeked  through  at 
Elizabeth.  She  was  sitting  as  she 
had  been  for  some  time,  the  same 
half-smile  upon  her  lips,  her  hands  in 
her  lap;  but  I  saw  that  her  hands 
were  clasped  together  and  every 
muscle  tense. 

"Rather  sudden  news,  Bobby," 
said  Cecily  at  last.  "You  don't  seem 
as  glad  as  I  should  have  supposed  you 
would  be." 

"Oh,  yes,"  Bobby  answered,  "I'm 
glad  enough.  I've  had  enough  of 
chasing  phantoms.  There  are  no  sub 
marines  over  here.  I  have  some  rea 
son  to  believe  that  it  is  different  over 
there.  There  is  nothing,  I  think," 
he  added  rather  bitterly,  "to  keep 
me  over  here  —  no  reason  why  I 
should  not  be  glad  to  go." 


336  THE   CLAMMER 

Again  that  silence  fell.  I  saw 
Elizabeth's  hands  twisting  slightly, 
clasped  in  her  lap. 

"What  vessel  do  you  join?"  Cecily 
asked.  "And  when  do  you  go?" 

"  I  don't  know  the  vessel,"  he  said, 
"and  I'm  sorry  that  I  am  not  per 
mitted  to  tell  you  when  I  go.  But  it 
will  be  soon.  There  are  troops  going 
to  France.  I  suppose  I  should  not  tell 
that,  but  I  trust  there  are  no  spies 
here."  And  he  laughed  shortly. 

Elizabeth  had  said  nothing,  nor 
made  any  movement,  but  she  had  sat 
as  motionless  as  a  statue  —  if  one  had 
not  observed  her  hands.  Now  she 
rose  slowly,  as  if  weary  with  sitting 
still,  and  she  wandered  slowly  from 
one  thing  to  another,  and  seemed  not 
to  find  comfort  in  any;  and  she  was 
come  near  the  door,  and  passed  out, 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE      337 

and  we  heard  her  light  step  going 
slowly  along  the  piazza  behind  us 
and  down  some  steps  in  the  distance. 
Then  I  turned  back,  and  I  looked  out 
at  the  moonlight  on  the  quiet  water, 
and  at  the  great  dark  shape  with  its 
anchor  light  and  a  light  or  two  more 
shining  through  some  portholes,  and 
her  decks  white  under  the  moon. 

I  turned  to  Eve,  for  I  would  have 
spoken ;  but  she  laid  her  finger  on  my 
lips,  and  she  pressed  my  arm,  and 
would  not  let  me  lean  forward.  And 
I  heard  a  faint  rustling,  but  very 
faint,  and  I  saw  the  tops  of  a  great 
clump  of  bushes  move  in  order,  as 
if  some  creature  —  some  person  — 
moved  along  behind  them;  and  there 
was  not  wind  enough  to  stir  them. 
Those  bushes  were  very  near  to  us, 
almost  in  front  of  us.  And  the  move- 


338  THE   CLAMMER 

ment  of  the  bushes  stopped,  and 
everything  was  still,  and  the  veiled 
moon  shone  down,  making  gray  and 
ghostly  everything  that  its  half-light 
shone  upon,  and  casting  black  shad 
ows. 

Bobby  had  become  uneasy,  and  he 
had  risen  and  was  wandering  slowly 
about,  as  Elizabeth  had  done;  and 
at  last  he  was  come  to  the  door,  and 
he  bolted  through  it,  and  we  heard 
his  light  footsteps  running  along  the 
piazza  behind  us.  Bobby  was  a  run 
ner  when  he  was  in  college,  and  he 
ran  with  no  noise.  And  he  took  the 
steps  at  a  leap,  and  I  heard  a  faint 
chuckle  from  Old  Goodwin. 

Then  nothing  happened  for  a  long 
time,  and  I  could  feel  Eve  laughing 
silently,  and  I  knew  that  Bobby  was 
ramping  about  the  place,  looking  for 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE      339 

somebody  that  he  found  not.  It  was 
as  bad  as  chasing  submarines.  And 
at  last  the  bushes  moved  again,  and 
I  heard  Bobby's  voice  whispering, 
"Elizabeth!  Elizabeth!  Where  are 
you?"  And  the  bushes  near  us  shiv 
ered,  and  there  came  a  gasp,  and 
somebody  started  to  run,  but  Bobby 
caught  her.  I  could  see  nothing,  but 
I  could  imagine  his  catching  her  by 
both  hands,  and  I  could  hear.  I  could 
not  help  hearing. 

"Oh!"  she  gasped;  and  "Oh!" 
again. 

Then  he  seemed  to  catch  her  close. 

"  Elizabeth ! "  he  whispered.  "  Eliz 
abeth!  I  give  up.  It's  uncondition 
al  surrender,  Elizabeth.  I  Ve  fought 
against  it,  but  it's  no  use.  I  don't 
care  what  you  are  if  you'll  only  love 
me." 


340  THE   CLAMMER 

Elizabeth  was  between  laughter 
and  tears. 

"Even  if  I  am  a  German  spy, 
Bobby?" 

"Even  if  you're  a  German  spy," 
he  whispered  fiercely.  "But  you're 
not.  You  couldn't  be.  You're  too 
honest  —  and  true." 

"Honest  and  true,  Bobby,"  Eliz 
abeth  whispered,  clinging  to  him  — 
I  guessed.  "But  you  don't  know 
what  a  woman  can  do.  If  I  were  a 
German  spy,  I  should  be  doing  just 
this  —  to  worm  your  secrets  out  of 
you." 

There  was  a  silence. 

"Do  it  again,"  he  said,  '  — Ger 
man  spy!" 

She  did  it  again  —  I  guessed. 

"I'm  only,"  she  whispered,  half- 
crying  on  his  shoulder,  "practising 


AND   THE    SUBMARINE      341 

wireless  on  the  Arcadia.  You  knew 
that,  Bobby,  didn't  you?" 

Eve  touched  my  arm,  and  we 
began  to  withdraw  soundlessly. 

''And,  oh,  Bobby,"  Elizabeth  went 
on,  "I'm  afraid  that  you — that 
you  may  not  come  back.  Those 
destroyers  are  —  but  I  'm  proud  of 
you,  so  proud!" 

"I'm  coming  back,"  said  Bobby. 
"Trust  me,  if  I  have  you  to  come 
back  to.  I  always  did  have  luck,  and 
I've  always  come  back.  I  do  have 
you,  don't  I?" 

"You  seem  to,"  Elizabeth  whis 
pered  merrily.  "And  I  - 

Then  Eve  and  I  were  out  of  that 
balcony  at  last,  and  we  went  along 
the  piazza  as  silently  as  might  be, 
and  down  the  steps.  I  began  to  sing 
softly,  "The  cloudless  sky  is  now  se- 


342  THE    CLAMMER 

rene,"  and  Eve  laughed  and  checked 
me. 

"Are  n't  you  ashamed  of  yourself, 
Adam?" 

"No,  Eve,"  I  said,  "but  I  rejoice 
mightily." 

"And  so  do  I,"  she  said,  "and  there 
is  but  one  thing  more  needed  to  make 
me  very  happy.  And  that  you  shall 
tell  me." 

And  we  wended]over  the  grass  that 
was  flecked  with  moonlight  —  it  was 
wet  too,  that  grass  —  and  through 
the  greenery  that  was  no  more  green, 
but  was  of  a  dense  blackness,  and 
came  out  upon  the  bank  above  my 
clam  beds,  where  the  sod  breaks  off 
to  the  sand.  And  there  Eve  sat  her 
down  where  the  pebbles  once  shone 
in  the  sun,  ADAM  and  EVE. 

"  I  know  it  is  wet,"  she  said,  "and 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE       343 

I  do  not  care.  Now  do  you  finish 
what  you  began  to  tell  me  —  about 
yourself." 

I  sat  beside  her.  "It  seems  trivial 
now.  Indeed,  it  is  no  great  matter, 
but  I  am  easier  in  my  mind  now  that 
I  have  done  it.  I  have  enrolled  in  the 
navy.  And  that  is  all,  and  soon  told. 
And  if  you  do  not  like  it,  Eve,  I  am 
sorry,  but  I  had  to  do  it." 

She  laughed,  and  she  gave  a  glad 
little  cry,  and  her  arms  were  about  my 
neck. 

"That  is  what  I  wanted  to  hear, 
Adam." 

"But  I  thought  that  you  had  paci 
fist  leanings,  Eve." 

"Every  woman  has  such  leanings, 
especially  where  the  matter  concerns 
those  she  loves.  But  I  know  that  you 
will  be  happier,  and  not  ashamed, 


344  THE   CLAMMER 

and  that  is  much  to  me;  and  I  can  be 
proud.  I  am  very  happy,  but  I  am 
afraid  too  —  terribly  afraid.  I  pray 
that  you  may  not  be  led  into  any 
danger  —  and  if  that  is  wicked  I  can 
not  help  it." 

I  kissed  the  dear  lovely  face  up 
turned  to  mine. 

"And  what  did  they  say?"  she 
whispered.  "What  will  they  do  with 
you?  You  are  in  the  Reserve,  are  n't 
you?" 

I  laughed.  "  I  enrolled  in  the  navy 
for  any  duty  that  they  saw  fit  to  as 
sign  me  to.  And  the  officer  smiled, 
and  said  that  I  would  be  called  when 
I  was  wanted.  I  may  be  a  coal-passer, 
Eve,  or  I  may  be  a  mechanic  to  clean 
Tom's  car,  or  I  may  breathe  the 
pure  air  of  heaven  as  I  sail  the  raging 
main." 


AND   THE   SUBMARINE      345 

Eve  wrinkled  her  brow.  "But  I 
don't  like  that,  Adam.  Don't  you 
know  whether  you  will  be  afloat  or 
ashore?" 

"  I  was  told  that  I  would  be  of  more 
value  ashore.  And  that  I  was  sorry 
to  hear,  for  I  had  rather  be  afloat,  ex 
cept  that  we  should  be  parted.  And 
I  want  to  see  a  German  submarine 
before  I  die.  'They  ain't  no  sich  an 
animal.' ' 

And  Eve  laughed,  and  we  got  up 
and  wandered  home  over  the  pebbles 
of  the  shore.  Fog  was  driving  across 
the  face  of  the  moon,  so  that  it  was 
now  hidden,  now  partially  revealed. 
From  above  the  fog  we  heard  the 
mutter  of  thunder.  Eve  squeezed  my 
arm. 

"Do  you  hear  the  guns,  Adam?" 
she  asked.  "The  gods  are  warring." 


346  THE   CLAMMER 

"Never  give  it  a  thought,  Eve,"  I 
said.  "What  are  their  wars  to  us?" 

"Well,"  said  Eve,  sighing,  "but  I 
hope  it  will  be  ashore." 

And  we  climbed  the  steep  path,  and 
went  in  to  our  candles,  to  wait  for 
Elizabeth.  Elizabeth  was  like  to  be 
long  in  coming. 


THE   END 


CAMBRIDGE  .  MASSACHUSETTS 
U    .    S    .    A 


/I, 


A     000110174 


